LIBRARY 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 
Class 


THE   ELEMENTS 


OP 


GENERAL    METHOD 


-y^y^ 


•S  ^^-i> 


THE     ELEMENTS 


OF 


GENERAL     METHOD 


BASED   ON   THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   HERBART 


BY 


CHARLES   A.   McMURRY,  Ph.D. 


NEW  EDITION,  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED 


NetD  gfltk 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON :  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 
1903 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,   1903, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up,  electrotyped,  and  published  March,  1903.     Reprinted 
July,  October,  1903. 


Norinool]  i^rrss 

J.  8.  Cuihing  &  Co.  -  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

In  this  revised  edition  of  the  General  Method  all 
the  chapters  have  been  considerably  modified  and 
enlarged.  Especially  has  the  treatment  of  Interest 
and  Correlation  been  much  extended. 

The  "  Method  of  the  Recitation  "  and  the  "  School 
Management,"  two  volumes  which  follow  this  from 
the  same  publishers,  will  complete  the  group  of  books 
treating  of  the  general  principles  of  method. 

Closely  following  these,  the  books  of  Special 
Method  in  Reading,  Geography,  Natural  Science, 
and  other  studies  by  the  same  author  apply  these 
principles  more  definitely  to  the  selection  of  mate- 
rials and  method  of  treatment  in  the  various  studies. 

The  Course  of  Study  for  the  eight  grades  of  the 
common  school  is  worked  out  on  the  basis  of  the 
foregoing  books  of  General  and  Special  Method  and 
will  complete  the  whole  series. 

CHARLES  A.  McMURRY. 
De  Kalb,  Illinois, 
August  14,  igoe. 


133510 


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CONTENTS 


CKAPTBR 

I.  The  Chief  Aim  of  Education 

II.  Relative  Value  of  Studies 

III.  Interest 

IV.  Correlation 
V.  Induction     . 

VI.  Apperception 

VII.  The  Will     . 

VIII.  Herbart  and  his  Disciplbs 


20 

84 
162       • 
214 

297 


I 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

CHAPTER   I 

THE   CHIEF   AIM    OF    EDUCATION 

What  is  the  central  purpose  of  education  ?  If  we 
include  under  the  term  "education"  all  the  things 
commonly  assigned  to  it,  its  many  phases  as  repre- 
sented by  the  great  variety  of  teachers  and  pupils, 
the  many  branches  of  knowledge,  and  the  various  and 
even  conflicting  theories  and  methods  in  bringing  up 
children,  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  definition  sufficiently 
broad  and  definite  to  compass  its  meaning.  In  fact,  we 
shall  not  attempt  in  the  beginning  to  make  a  defini- 
tion. We  are  in  search  not  so  much  of  a  compre- 
hensive definition  as  of  a  central  truth,  a  key  to  the 
situation,  an  aim  that  will  simplify  and  brighten  all 
the  work  of  teachers.  Keeping  in  view  the  end  from 
the  beginning,  we  need  a  central  organizing  principle 
which  shall  dictate  for  teacher  and  pupil  the  highway 
over  which  they  shall  travel  together. 

We  will  assume,  at  least,  that  education  means  the 
whole  bringing  up  of  a  child  from  infancy  to  maturity, 
not  simply  his  school  training.  The  reason  for  this 
assumption  is  that  home,  school,  companions,  envi- 

B  I 


2      THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

ronment,  and  natural  endowment,  working  through  a 
series  of  years,  produce  a  character  which  should  be 
a  unit  as  the  resultant  of  these  different  influences 
and  growths.  Again,  we  are  compelled  to  assume 
that  this  aim,  whatever  it  is,  is  the  same  for  all. 

Now,  what  will  the  average  man,  picked  up  at 
random,  say  to  our  question.  What  is  the  chief  end 
in  the  education  of  your  son  ?  A  farmer  wishes  his 
boy  to  read,  write,  and  cipher,  so  as  to  meet  success- 
fully the  needs  of  a  farmer's  life.  The  merchant 
desires  that  his  boy  get  a  wider  reach  of  knowledge 
and  experience,  so  as  to  succeed  in  a  livelier  sort  of 
business  competition.  A  university  professor  would 
lay  out  a  liberal  course  of  training  for  his  son,  so  as 
to  prepare  him  for  intellectual  pursuits  among  schol- 
ars and  people  of  culture.  This  utilitarian  view,  which 
points  to  success  in  life  in  the  ordinary  sense,  is  the 
prevailing  one.  We  could  probably  sum  up  the  wishes 
of  a  great  majority  of  the  common  people  by  saying, 
"They  desire  to  give  their  children,  through  educa- 
tion, a  better  chance  in  life  than  they  themselves 
i  have  had."  Yet  even  these  people,  if  pressed  to  give 
reasons,  would  admit  that  the  purely  utilitarian  view 
is  a  low  one,  and  that  there  is  something  better  for 
every  boy  and  girl  than  the  mere  ability  to  make  a 
successful  living. 

Turn  for  a  moment  to  the  great  systems  of  educa- 
tion which  have  held  their  own  for  centuries,  and 
examine  their  aims.     The  Jesuits  and  the  Humanists 


THE  CHIEF  AIM   OF   EDUCATION  3 

claim  to  be  liberal,  culture-giving,  and  preparatory  to 
great  things ;  yet  we  need  but  to  quote  from  the  his- 
tories of  education  to  show  their  narrowness  and 
incompleteness.  The  training  of  the  Jesuits  was  lin- 
guistic and  rhetorical,  and  almost  entirely  apart  from 
our  present  notion  of  human  development.  The 
Humanists,  or  Classicists,  who  for  so  many  centuries 
have  constituted  the  educational  61ite,  belonged  to 
the  past  with  its  glories  rather  than  to  the  time  in 
which  they  really  lived.  Though  standing  in  a  mod- 
ern age,  they  were  almost  blind  to  the  great  problems 
and  opportunities  it  offered.  They  stood  in  bold 
contrast  to  the  growth  of  the  modern  spirit  in  history, 
literature,  and  natural  science.  But,  in  spite  of  their 
predominating  influence  over  education  for  centuries, 
there  has  never  been  the  shadow  of  a  chance  for 
making  the  classics  of  antiquity  the  basis  of  common 
popular  education.  The  modern  school  of  Natural 
Scientists  may  be  as  one-sided  as  the  Humanists  in 
supposing  that  human  nature  is  narrow  enough  to  be 
compressed  within  the  bounds  of  natural  science 
studies,  however  broad  their  field  may  be. 

But  the  systems  of  education  in  vogue  have  always 
lagged  behind  the  pronounced  views  of  educational 
reformers.  Two  hundred  fifty  years  ago  Comenius 
projected  a  plan  of  education  for  every  boy  and  girl 
of  the  common  people.  His  aim  was  to  teach  all 
men  all  things,  from  the  highest  truths  of  religion  to 
the  commonest  things  of  daily  experience.     Being  a 


4      THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

man  of  simple  and  profound  religious  faith,  religion 
and  morality  were  at  the  foundation  of  his  system. 
But  even  the  principles  of  intellectual  training  so 
clearly  advocated  by  Comenius  have  not  yet  found  a 
ready  hearing  among  teachers,  to  say  nothing  of  his 
great  moral  religious  purpose.  Among  later  writers, 
Locke,  Rousseau,  and  Pestalozzi  have  set  up  ideals 
of  education  that  have  had  much  influence.  But 
Locke's  "  gentleman  "  can  never  be  the  ideal  of  all, 
because  it  is  intrinsically  aristocratic,  and  education 
has  become  with  us  broadly  democratic.  After  all, 
Locke's  "  gentleman,'-  with  his  moral  basis  for  char- 
acter, is  a  noble  ideal  and  should  powerfully  impress 
teachers.  The  perfect  human  animal  that  Rousseau 
dreamed  of  in  the  Emile,  is  best  illustrated  in  the 
noble  savage,  but  we  are  not  in  danger  in  America 
of  adopting  this  ideal.  In  spite  of  his  merits  the 
noblest  savage  falls  short  in  several  ways.  Yet  it  is 
important  in  education  to  perfect  the  physical  powers 
and  the  animal  development  in  every  child.  Pesta- 
lozzi touched  the  hearts  of  even  the  weakest  and 
morally  frailest  children,  and  tried  to  make  improved 
physical  conditions  and  intellectual  culture  contribute 
to  heart  culture,  or  rather  to  combine  the  two  in 
strong  moral  character.  He  came  close  upon  the 
highest  aim  in  education  and  was  able  to  illustrate 
his  doctrine  in  practice.  The  educational  reformers 
have  gone  far  ahead  of  the  schoolmasters  in  setting 
up  a  high  aim  in  education. 


THE  CHIEF  AIM   OF  EDUCATION  5 

Let  us  examine  a  few  well-known  definitions  of 
education  by  great  thinkers,  and  try  to  discover  a 
central  idea. 

Plato :  "  The  purpose  of  education  is  to  give  to  the 
body  and  to  the  soul  all  the  beauty  and  all  the  per- 
fection of  which  they  are  capable." 

John  Stuart  Mill:  "Education  includes  whatever 
we  do  for  ourselves  and  whatever  is  done  for  us  by 
others  for  the  express  purpose  of  bringing  us  nearer 
to  the  perfection  of  our  nature." 

Herbert  Spencer :  "  Education  is  the  preparation 
for  complete  living." 

Stein :  **  Education  is  the  harmonious  and  equable 
evolution  of  the  human  faculties  by  a  method  based 
upon  the  nature  of  the  mind  for  developing  all  the 
faculties  of  the  soul,  for  stirring  up  and  nourishing 
all  the  principles  of  life,  while  shunning  all  one-sided 
culture  and  taking  account  of  the  sentiments  upon 
which  the  strength  and  worth  of  men  depend." 

Compayre :  "  Education  is  the  sum  of  the  reflec- 
tive efforts  by  which  we  aid  nature  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  faculties 
of  man  in  view  of  his  perfection,  his  happiness,  and 
his  social  destination." 

These  attempts  to  bring  the  task  of  education  into 
a  comprehensive,  scientific  formula  are  interesting 
and  yet  disappointing.  They  agree  in  giving  great 
breadth  to  education.  But  in  the  attempt  to  be  com- 
prehensive, to  omit  nothing,  they  fail  to  specify  that 


6  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

wherein  the  true  worth  of  a  man  consists ;  they  fail 
to  bring  out  into  relief  the  highest  aim  as  an  organiz- 
ing idea  in  the  complicated  work  of  education  and 
its  relation  to  secondary  aims. 

We  desire  therefore  to  approach  nearer  to  this 
problem :  What  is  the  highest  aim  of  education  ? 

We  will  do  so  by  inquiry  into  the  aims  and  ten- 
dencies of  our  public  schools.  To  an  outward  ob- 
server the  schools  of  to-day  confine  their  attention 
almost  exclusively  to  the  acquisition  of  certain  forms 
of  knowledge  and  to  intellectual  training,  to  the 
mental  discipline  and  power  that  come  from  a 
varied  and  vigorous  exercise  of  the  faculties.  The 
great  majority  of  good  schoolmasters  stand  squarely 
upon  this  platform,  knowledge  and  mental  discipline. 
But  they  are  none  the  less  deeply  conscious  that  this 
is  not  the  highest  aim  of  education.  We  scarcely 
need  to  be  told  that  a  person  may  be  fully  equipped 
with  the  best  that  this  style  of  education  can  give, 
and  still  remain  a  criminal.  A  good  and  wise  parent 
will  inevitably  seek  for  a  better  result  in  his  child  than 
mere  knowledge,  intellectual  ability,  and  power.  All 
good  schoolmasters  know  that  behind  school  studies 
and  cares  is  the  still  greater  task  of  developing  manly 
and  womanly  character.  Perhaps,  however,  this  is 
too  high  and  sacred  a  thing  to  formulate.  Perhaps 
in  the  attempt  to  reduce  it  to  a  scientific  form  we 
should  lose  its  spirit.  Admitting  that  strong  moral 
character  is  the  noblest  result  of  right  training,  is  it 


THE  CHIEF  AIM   OF  EDUCATION  7 

not  still  incidental  to  the  regular  school  work  ?  Per- 
haps it  lies  in  the  teacher  and  his  manner  of  teaching 
subjects,  and  not  in  the  subject-matter  itself  nor  in 
any  course  of  study. 

This  is  exactly  the  point  at  which  we  wish  to  apply 
the  lever  and  to  lift  into  prominence  the  moral,  char- 
acter-building aim  as  the  central  one  in  education. 
This  aim  should  be  like  a  loadstone,  attracting  and 
subordinating  all  other  purposes  to  itself.  It  should 
dominate  in  the  choice,  arrangement,  and  method  of 
studies. 

It  is  difficult  at  the  present  time  to  set  up  the  moral 
aim  as  a  supreme  one  in  education,  and  to  grasp  clearly 
the  instrumentalities  by  which  it  can  be  realized. 

When  the  churches  first  founded  the  common 
schools  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  the  Bible  was 
made  the  basis  of  religious  and  moral  training,  and 
definite  means  were  thus  supplied  for  reaching  the 
result.  This  is  still  true  of  many  European  schools. 
But  now  that  our  schools  have  been  completely  secu- 
larized, and  the  Bible  banished  as  a  text-book,  we 
have  in  our  school  course  no  material  of  pronounced 
ethical  content  whose  avowed  purpose  is  moral  cul- 
ture. So  far  as  direct  moral  training  through  instruc- 
tion is  concerned,  we  have  no  plan  for  it.  Knowl- 
edge and  discipline  are  the  well-defined  purposes  of 
our  schools.  The  personal  influence  and  moral  force 
of  the  teacher  must  bear  whatever  burden  of  moral 
culture  the  school  is  held  responsible  for. 


8  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

There  is  also  an  instinctive  feeling  that  direct  moral 
teaching  is  apt  to  be  formal  and  theoretic,  unreal  if 
not  hypocritical,  that  morality  belongs  rather  to 
conduct  and  to  the  discipline  of  the  school  than  to 
instruction.  Again,  in  those  studies  like  history, 
reading,  and  literature,  which  possess  marked  moral 
quality,  the  instruction  has  been  directed  chiefly  to 
other  purposes,  and  therefore  the  moral  influence  of 
these  studies  has  not  been  much  utilized.  Moreover, 
the  relation  of  the  moral  aim  to  the  other  leading 
aims  of  education,  such  as  intellectual  discipline, 
physical  training,  acquired  knowledge,  music,  art,  and 
aesthetics,  and  especially  to  the  conduct  and  active 
employments  of  children,  has  not  been  completely 
worked  out.  Some  have  the  feeling  that  morality 
is  not  a  broad  enough  concept  to  cover  the  whole 
scheme  of  education.  To  bring  all  the  aims  into 
subordination  to  this  one  aim  would  limit  its  freedom 
and  scope.  We  may  state  briefly,  therefore,  some  of 
the  reasons  why  the  moral  aim  should  be  put  forward 
as  the  controlling  one  in  education. 

First :  The  attainment  of  virtue,  that  is,  the  estab- 
lishment of  moral  habits,  gives  us  the  best  quality 
and  achievement  in  individual  character.  It  is  ac- 
knowledged that  the  perfection  of  the  individual  is  a 
chief  essential  to  the  aim  of  education.  No  matter 
how  much  we  emphasize  scientific  knowledge  and 
mental  discipline,  all  admit  that  the  attainment  of 
moral  excellence  is  still  superior  to  these.     As  Kant 


THE  CHIEF  AIM  OF  EDUCATION  9 

says,  "  There  is  but  one  good  thing  in  the  world, 
and  that  is  a  good  will."  The  perfection  of  will, 
however,  is  found  only  in  its  subjection  to  moral  re- 
quirements in  the  individual.  It  will  be  generally 
admitted  that  all  physical,  intellectual,  and  aesthetic 
culture  should  culminate  in  this  individual  moral 
excellence. 

Second :  The  second  chief  essential  in  the  edu- 
cation of  children  is  that  they  shall  be  trained  for 
society  and  for  citizenship.  They  shall  be  adapted 
\  to  the  social  and  industrial  life  of  the  present.  This 
demand  is  heard  with  much  emphasis  and  from  the 
highest  quarters.  It  seems  at  the  present  time  that 
the  demand  for  the  perfection  of  the  individual  is 
yielding,  to  a  considerable  extent,  to  the  requirement 
for  socializing  or  subordinating  the  individual  to  the 
needs  of  society.  It  is  in  the  social  order,  however, 
that  the  moral  virtues  come  chiefly  into  play.  The 
highest  statement  of  the  social  law  is  found  in  the 
golden  rule,  and  it  is  the  application  of  this  every- 
where that  is  most  needed  in  social  intercourse  and 
in  human  industry.  To  equip  a  child  properly  for 
social  and  industrial  life  is  to  put  him  in  possession, 
through  education,  of  these  moral  or  social  virtues 
and  sympathies.  This  can  only  be  done  by  giving 
him  an  insight  into  human  relations  and  sympathy 
for  people  in  all  the  various  conditions  of  society. 
This  whok  point  of  view,  therefore,  is  moral  in  the 
highest  degree. 


10  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

Whether  we  look  at  education  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  individual  or  of  society  as  a  whole,  moral  cul- 
ture is  the  preeminent  need  in  both. 

Third  :  Moral  ideas  and  moral  education  generally 
are  subject  to  the  same  laws  of  growth  and  develop- 
ment as  other  kinds  of  knowledge  and  culture.  Moral 
judgments,  feelings,  and  decisions,  vague  and  rudi- 
mentary at  first  in  children,  gradually  develop  through 
experience  and  culture  to  clearness  and  strength. 
It  requires  a  clear  advance  in  intelligence  to  perceive 
moral  ideas,  and  likewise  to  move  forward  from 
particular  examples  to  general  moral  concepts.  In 
this  respect  moral  enlightenment  does  not  differ  from 
other  kinds  of  growth  in  intelligence.  The  sympa- 
thetic and  social  feelings  and  the  sense  of  moral 
obligation  also  ripen  gradually  with  the  growth  in 
intelligence.  If  left  to  themselves  or  to  chance,  these 
moral  ideas,  sympathies,  and  habits  of  judgment  are 
easily  perverted  and  the  whole  moral  character 
wrecked.  Indeed  they  require  the  most  careful 
cultivation  and  direction  by  wise  teachers  and  par- 
ents. No  teacher  or  thinker  would  have  the  hardi- 
hood to  deny  these  statements,  and  yet  our  schools 
have  no  definite  plan  for  the  cultivation  of  moral  ideas 
and  feelings. 

Fourth :  The  great  central  studies  of  the  school 
course,  such  as  reading,  literature,  and  history,  are 
full  to  overflowing  with  material  of  the  best  quality 
upon  which   the   moral  judgments   and   sympathies 


THE  CHIEF  AIM  OF   EDUCATION  II 

may  be  directly  cultivated.  These  forms  of  biography 
and  history  and  literature  which  are  coming  to  be 
most  used  in  the  schools,  are  especially  fruitful  in 
those  personal,  concrete  forms  of  life  which  reveal 
simple  moral  ideas  in  a  striking  form.  The  chief  fact 
to  be  observed  is,  that  these  studies,  already  used  in 
the  school,  are  preeminent  for  their  moral  worth,  but 
have  not  been  employed  chiefly  to  bring  out  this  form 
of  culture  and  character  growth. 

Fifth :  The  school,  however,  is  not  limited  in  its 
sphere  of  opportunities  to  the  theoretical  treatment 
of  morals,  to  the  mere  observation  of  moral  ideas  in 
stories,  etc.  It  has  abundant  opportunity  to  lead 
over  from  moral  judgments  and  sympathetic  feelings 
to  conduct.  Every  one  concedes  that  it  is  as  much 
the  business  of  a  teacher  to  look  after  the  conduct 
of  children  as  to  supervise  their  acquisition  of  ideas 
and  knowledge.  The  school  itself  is  a  social  organi- 
zation, and  children  cannot  live  in  its  close  relation- 
ships without  practising  the  social  virtues,  or  else 
violating  them.  Every  day  moral  habits  are  being 
formed  in  the  school,  and  the  direct  experience  of 
these  relations  by  the  children  in  home  and  school 
must  be  the  basis  also  of  any  interpretation  of  moral 
situations  in  stories,  history,  etc.  But  beyond  this 
there  is  an  increasing  and  emphatic  demand  that  our 
schools  shall  be  converted  more  and  more  into  social 
institutions,  that  by  means  of  the  extension  of  social 
activities  in  cooking,  weaving,  industrial  occupations, 


1^  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

aftd  cooperation,  this  social  spirit  shall  be  given  freef 
scope.  This  will  fit  children  better  to  understand, 
appreciate,  and  sympathize  with  the  more  intimate 
and  complex  social  and  industrial  conditions  into 
which  the  people  are  rapidly  growing.  We  may  even 
go  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  strongest  and  most  intelli- 
gent demand  made  upon  the  school  in  late  years  is 
for  greater  socialization  of  its  activities,  and,  in  the 
last  analysis,  what  does  this  mean,  other  than  greater 
intellectual  and  moral  insight,  greater  sympathy  with 
our  fellow-men,  better  social  conduct,  morality.?  The 
school  therefore  is  not  limited  to  the  theory  of 
morals. 

Si'xth  :  The  pedagogical  applications  of  ethics  and 
psychology  have  been  developed  far  enough  to  filt- 
nish  the  teachers  with  a  good  scheme  of  moral  train- 
ing, with  a  set  of  pedagogical  principles  with  which 
the  teacher  can  intelligently  go  to  work  to  cultivate 
steadily  and'  rationally  the  moral  insight  and  feeling 
of  children. 

These  six  considerations  bearing  upon  the  value  of 
the  miofa:!:  aim  in  education  seem  to  justify  us  as 
teachers  in  pushing  it  to  the  front  and  in  concentrat- 
ing our  energies  upon  its  accomplishment. 

To  summarize:  i.  The  attainment  of  moral  excel- 
lence in  conduct  is  the  perfection  of  the  individual. 

1.  Ability  to  fulfil  the  moral  law  in  the  social  re- 
fati'ons  is  the  chief  demand  that  society  makes  upon 
the  iwdividual. 


THE  CHIEF  AIM  OF  EDUCATION  13 

3.  Moral  enlightenment  and  growth  toward  moral 
conduct  are  subject  to  the  same  laws  as  other  forms 
of  mental  culture. 

4.  Several  of  the  most  important  studies  furnish 
peculiarly  strong  and  appropriate  material  for  moral 
instruction. 

5.  The  school  is  not  narrowed  to  ethical  theory. 
As  a  social  organization,  through  its  activities  and 
discipline,  it  furnishes  also  the  transition  from  theory 
to  practice  or  conduct 

6.  A  fairly  complete  and  practical  scheme  of  moral 
education  on  the  basis  of  ethics  and  pedagogy  13 
within  the  reach  of  teachers. 

Let  us  examine  further  the  convictions  upon  which 
the  moral  aim  rests.  Every  wise  and  benevolent 
parent  knows  that  the  first  and  last  question  to  ask 
and  to  answer  regarding  a  child  is,  "What  are  his 
moral  quality  and  strength  ? "  Now,  who  is  better 
able  to  judge  of  the  true  aim  than  thoughtful  and 
solicitous  parents  ?  In  the  second  place,  it  is  incon- 
ceivable that  a  conscientious  teacher  should  close 
his  eyes  to  all  except  the  intellectual  training  of  his 
pupils.  It  is  as  natural  for  him  to  touch  and  awaken 
the  moral  qualities  as  it  is  for  birds  to  sing.  Again, 
the  state  is  more  concerned  to  see  the  growth  of  just 
and  virtuous  citizens  than  in  seeing  the  prosperity  of 
scholars,  inventors,  and  merchants.  It  is  also  con- 
cerned with  the  success  of  the  latter,  but  chiefly 
when  their  knowledge,  skill,  and  wealth  are  regulated 


14     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

by  their  virtues.  Our  country  may  have  vast  re- 
sources and  great  opportunities,  but  everything  in 
the  end  depends  upon  the  moral  quahty  of  its  men 
and  women.  Undermine  and  corrupt  this,  and  we 
all  know  that  there  is  nothing  to  hope  for.  The  un- 
corrupted  stock  of  true  patriots  in  our  land  is  firmly 
rooted  in  this  conviction,  which  is  worth  more  to  the 
country  than  cornfields  and  iron  mines.  The  per- 
petual enticement  and  blandishment  of  worldly  suc- 
cess so  universal  in  our  time  cannot  move  us  if  we 
found  our  theory  and  practice  upon  the  central  doc- 
trine of  moral  education.  Education,  therefore,  in 
its  popular  untrammelled,  moral  sense,  is  the  greatest 
concern  of  the  state. 

In  projecting  a  general  plan  of  popular  education 
we  are  beholden  to  the  prejudices  of  no  man  nor  class 
of  men.  Not  even  the  traditional  prejudices  of  the 
great  body  of  teachers  should  stand  in  the  way  of 
setting  up  the  noblest  ideal  of  education.  Educa- 
tional thinkers  are  in  duty  bound  to  free  themselves 
from  utilitarian  notions  and  narrowness,  and  to 
adopt  the  best  platform  that  children  by  natural 
birthright  can  stand  upon.  They  are  called  upon  to 
find  the  best  and  to  apply  it  to  as  many  as  possible. 
Let  it  be  remembered  that  each  child  has  a  complete 
growth  before  him.  His  own  possibilities,  and  not 
the  attainments  of  his  parents  and  elders,  are  the 
things  to  consider. 

Shall  we  seek  to  avoid  responsibility  for  the  moral 


THE  CHIEF  AIM   OF  EDUCATION  1 5 

aim  by  throwing  it  upon  the  family  and  the  church  ? 
But  the  more  we  probe  into  educational  problems, 
the  more  we  shall  find  the  essential  unity  of  all  edu- 
cational forces.  The  citadel  of  a  child's  life  is  his 
[moral  character,  whether  the  home,  the  school,  or 
the  church  build  and  strengthen  its  walls.  If  asked 
to  define  the  relation  of  the  school  to  the  home,  we 
shall  quickly  see  that  they  are  one  in  spirit  and  lead- 
ing purpose,  that  instead  of  being  separated  they 
should  be  brought  closer  together. 

In  conclusion,  therefore,  shall  we  make  moral 
character  the  clear  and  conscious  aim  of  school  edu- 
cation, and  then  subordinate  school  studies  and  disci- 
pline, mental  training  and  conduct,  to  this  aim  ?  It 
will  be  a  great  stimulus  to  thousands  of  teachers  to 
discover  that  this  is  the  real  purpose  of  school  work, 
and  that  there  are  abundant  means  not  yet  used  of 
realizing  it.  Having  once  firmly  grasped  this  idea, 
they  will  find  that  there  is  no  other  having  half  its 
potency.  It  will  put  a  substantial  foundation  under 
educational  labors  both  theoretical  and  practical, 
which  will  make  them  the  noblest  of  enterprises. 
Can  we  expect  the  public  school  to  drop  into  such  a 
purely  subordinate  function  as  that  of  intellectual 
training,  to  limit  its  influence  to  an  almost  mechani- 
cal action,  the  sharpening  of  the  mental  tools  ? 
Stated  in  this  form,  it  becomes  an  absurdity. 

Is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  rank  and  file 
of   our  teachers  will   realize  the  importance  of   this 


l5  THE  ELEMENTS  OF   GENERAL   METHOD 

aim  in  teaching,  so  long  as  it  has  no  recognition  in 
our  public  system  of  instruction  ?  The  moral  ele- 
ment is  largely  present  among  educators  as  an  in- 
stinct, but  it  ought  to  be  evolved  into  a  clear  purpose 
with  definite  mear^s  of  accomplishment.  It  is  an 
open  secret,  in  fact,  that  while  our  public  instruction 
is  ostensibly  secular,  having  nothing  to  do  directly 
with  religion  or  morals,  there  is  nothing  about  which 
^ood  teachers  are  more  thoughtful  and  anxious  than 
about  the  means  of  moral  influence.  Occasionally 
SfmQ  one  from  the  outside  attacks  our  pubHc  schools 
as  without  morals  and  godless,  but  there  is  no  lack 
of  stanch  defenders  on  moral  grounds.  Theoreti- 
cally and  eyen  practically,  to  a  considerable  exten|:, 
we  are  all  agreed  upon  the  supreme  value  of  moral 
education.  But  there  is  a  striking  inconsistency  ip 
our  whole  position  pn  the  school  problem.  WWlfi 
the  supreme  value  of  the  moral  aim  will  be  generally 
admitted,  it  has  no  open  recognition  in  our  school 
course,  either  as  a  principal  or  as  a  subordinate  aim 
qf  instruction.  Moral  education  is  not  germane  to 
the  avowed  purposes  of  the  pubUc  school.  If  it  gets 
in  at  aU,  it  i^  by  the  back  door.  It  is  incidental,  not 
primary.  The  importance  of  making  the  leading  aim 
of  education  clear  and  conscious  to  teachers,  is 
great.  Jf  their  cpnviction  pn  this  point  is  not  clear, 
they  will  certainly  not  concentrate  their  attention 
and  efforts  upon  its  realisation.  Again,  in  a  busi- 
nesslike education,  where  there  are  so  many  impor- 


THE  CHIEF  AIM   OF   EDUCATION  1 7 

tant  and  necessary  results  to  be  reached,  it  is  very 
easy  and  common  to  put  forward  a  subordinate  aim, 
and  to  lift  it  into  undue  prominence,  even  allowing 
it  to  swallow  up  all  the  energies  of  teacher  and 
pupils.  Owing  to  this  diversity  of  opinion  among 
teachers  as  to  the  results  to  be  reached,  our  public 
schools  exhibit  a  chaos  of  conflicting  theory  and 
practice,  and  a  numberless  brood  of  hobby-riders. 

How  to  establish  the  moral  aim  in  the  centre  of 
the  school  course,  how  to  subordifiate  and  reaUze  the 
other  educational  aims  while  keeping  this  chiefly  in 
view,  how  to  make  instruction  ^nd  school  discipline 
contribute  unitedly  to  the  formation  of  vigorous  moral 
character,  and  ;how  to  unite  hopie,  .school,  and  other 
life  experienced  of  a  child  in  perfecting  the  one  great 
aim  of  education  —  th^.s^  ^re  sojne  of  the  problems 
whose  solution  will  be  sought  in  the  following 
chapters. 

It  will  be  especially  our  purpose  to  show  how 
school  instructio|i  cap  be  brought  into  the  direct  serr 
vice  of  character-building.  This  is  the  point  uppJi 
which  most  te^-chers  are  sceptica}.  Not  much  effort 
has  been  made  until  recently  to  put  thie  h^st  pior^,! 
materials  into  the  schopi  course.  In  one  whplp  set 
of  school  studies,  and  that  the  most  important  (re^-dr 
ing,  literature,  and  history),  the  chapter  on  relative 
values  will  show  that  there  i§  opportunity  through  al} 
the  grades  for  ^  viyid  and  direct  cultivation  of  moral 
ideas  and  convictions.  The  second  great  series  of 
c 


1 8  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

Studies,  the  natural  sciences,  comes  in  to  support  the 
moral  aims,  while  the  personal  example  and  influence 
of  the  teacher,  and  the  common  experiences  and  inci- 
dents of  school  life  and  conduct,  give  abundant  occa- 
sion to  apply  and  enforce  moral  ideas. 

That  the  other  justifiable  aims  of  education,  such 
as  physical  training,  mental  discipUne,  orderly  habits, 
gentlemanly  conduct,  practical  utility  of  knowledge, 
liberal  culture,  and  the  free  development  of  individu- 
ality, will  not  be  weakened  by  placing  the  moral  aim  in 
the  forefront  of  educational  motives,  we  are  convinced. 

Herbart  has  stated  the  moral  aim  of  education  at 
the  beginning  of  his  "  Outlines  of  Educational  Doc- 
trine," Lange  and  De  Garmo,  pp.  7  and  8,  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

"  The  term  *  virtue '  expresses  the  whole  purpose  of 
education.  Virtue  is  the  idea  of  inner  freedom  which 
has  developed  into  an  abiding  actuality  in  an  individ- 
ual. Whence,  as  inner  freedom  is  a  relation  between 
insight  and  volition,  a  double  task  is  at  once  set  be- 
fore the  teacher.  It  becomes  his  business  to  make 
actual  each  of  these  two  factors  separately,  in  order 
that  a  later  permanent  relationship  may  result. 

"  But  even  here,  at  the  outset,  we  need  to  bear  in 
mind  the  identity  of  morality  with  the  effort  put  forth 
to  realize  the  permanent  actuality  of  the  harmony 
between  insight  and  volition.  To  induce  the  pupil 
to  make  this  effort  is  a  difficult  achievement ;  at  all 
events,  it  becomes  possible  only  when   the  twofold 


THE  CHIEF  AIM   OF   EDUCATION  1 9 

training  mentioned  above  is  well  under  way.  It  is 
easy  enough,  by  the  study  of  the  example  of  others, 
to  cultivate  theoretical  acumen.  The  moral  appli- 
cation to  the  pupil  himself,  however,  can  be  made, 
with  hope  of  success,  only  in  so  far  as  his  inclinations 
and  habits  have  taken  a  direction  in  keeping  with  his 
insight." 


CHAPTER   II 

RELATIVE    VALUE   OF   STUDIES 

Being  convinced  that  the  controlling  aim  of  educa- 
tion  should  be  moral,  and  that  all  the  activities  and 
studies  of  the  school  should  contribute  either  directly 
or  indirectly  to  this  aim,  we  shall  now  inquire  into 
the  relative  value  of  different  studies  and  their  fitness 
to  reach  and  satisfy  this  aim.  As  measured  upon 
this  cardinal  purpose,  what  is  the  intrinsic  value  of 
each  and  all  the  school  studies  ?  The  branches  of 
knowledge  furnish  the  materials  upon  which  the  self- 
activity  of  the  child  may  develop  itself.  The  com- 
plex web  of  his  knowledge,  interests,  and  volitional 
activities  can  be  woven  in  the  schoolroom  into  a 
closer  and  firmer  texture.  Before  entering  upon  such 
a  long  and  uphill  task  as  education,  with  its  many 
complexities  and  weighty  results,  it  is  prudent  to  esti- 
mate not  only  the  end  in  view  but  the  best  means  for 
reaching  it.  Many  and  varied  means  have  been 
offered,  some  trivial,  others  valuable.  A  careful 
measurement  with  some  reliable  standard  of  the  ma- 
terials furnished  -by  the  common  school  is  our  first 
task.  To  what  extent  does  history  contribute  to  our 
purpose  ?     What   importance   have    geography   and 

20 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  STUDIES  i?I 

arithmetic  ?  How  do  reading,  natural  science,  and 
constructive  activity  aid  a  child  to  grow  into  the  full 
stature  of  a  man  or  woman  ? 

These  questions  are  not  new,  but  the  answer  to 
them  has  been  long  delayed.  Since  the  time  of 
Comenius,  to  say  the  feast,  they  have  seri^tisly  dis- 
turbed educators.  But  few  have  had  the  courage, 
industry,  and  bteadth  of  mind  of  a  Coftienius,  to 
Sound  the  educational  waters  and  to  lay  out  a  profit- 
able chart.  In  gpite  of  Comenius's  labors,  however, 
and  of  those  of  other  educational  Reformers,  be  they 
never  so  enei^getic,  practical  pfogreSs  toward  a  final 
answer,  as  registered  in  'school  cotii'ses,  has  been  ex- 
tremely slow. 

Herbert  Spencer  says  in  "  Edtication,"  p.  26 :  — 
"  If  there  needs  any  ftiTther  evidence  of  the  rude, 
undeveloped  character  of  our  education,  we  have  it 
in  the  fact  that  the  comparative  Worths  of-  the  differ- 
ent kinds  of  knowledge  have  been  as  yet  scarcely 
even  discussed,  much  less  dfsctiss^d  in  a  methodic 
way  with  definite  results.  N'ot  onfy  is  it  that  fto 
standard  of  relative  values  has  yet  been  a'greed 
upon,  but  the  existence  of  any  such  standard  has 
not  been  conceived  in  any  clear  manner.  And  not 
only  is  it  that  the  existence  6f  such  a  standard  has 
not  been  clearly  conceived,  but  the  need  of  it  seems 
to  have  been  scarcely  eVeuvfelt.  Men  read  books 
upon  this  topic  and  attend  lectures  upon  th'a:t,  de- 
cide that  their  children  shall  be  instructed  in  these 


22     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

branches  and  not  in  those ;  and  all  under  the  guid- 
ance of  mere  custom,  or  liking,  or  prejudice,  without 
ever  considering  the  enormous  importance  of  deter- 
mining in  some  rational  way  what  things  are  really 
most  worth  learning.  .  .  .  Men  dress  their  chil- 
dren's minds  as  they  do  their  bodies,  in  the  prevail- 
ing fashion." 

Spencer  sees  clearly  the  importance  of  this  prob- 
lem and  gives  it  a  vigorous  discussion  in  his  first 
chapter,  **  What  knowledge  is  of  most  worth  ?  "  But 
the  question  is  a  broad  and  fundamental  one,  and  in 
his  preference  for  the  natural  sciences  he  seems  to 
us  not  to  have  maintained  a  just  balance  of  educa- 
tional forces  in  preparing  a  child  for  "  complete  liv- 
ing." His  theory  needs  also  to  be  worked  out  into 
greater  detail  and  applied  to  school  conditions  before 
it  can  be  of  much  value  to  teachers.  Great  changes 
and  reforms  indeed  have  been  started,  especially 
within  the  last  fifty  years,  but  they  have  been  under- 
taken under  the  pressure  of  general  popular  demands 
and  have  resulted  in  compromises  between  tradi- 
tional forces  and  urgent  popular  needs.  An  ade- 
quate philosophical  inquiry  into  the  relative  merit 
of  studies  and  into  their  adaptability  to  nurture  men- 
tal, moral,  and  physical  qualities,  has  not  been  made. 
In  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  Fifteen  and  in 
the  discussions  which  have  followed  it,  this  question 
has  assumed  important  proportions,  and  has  fully 
aroused  educational  workers. 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  STUDIES  23 

The  Germans  have  gone  deeply  into  this  problem. 
Quite  a  number  of  able  thinkers  among  them  have 
given  their  best  years  to  the  study  of  relative  educa- 
tional values  and  to  a  working  out  of  its  results. 
Herbart,  Ziller,  Stoy,  and  Rein  were  deeply  inter- 
ested in  philosophy  and  psychology  as  life-long 
teachers  of  these  subjects  at  the  university,  but  in 
their  practice  schools  in  the  same  place  they  also 
stood  daily  face  to  face  with  the  primary  difficulties 
of  ordinary  teaching.  At  the  outset,  and  before  lay- 
ing out  a  course  of  study,  they  were  compelled  to 
meet  and  settle  the  aim  of  education  and  the  problem 
of  relative  values.  Having  answered  these  questions 
to  their  own  satisfaction,  they  proceeded  to  work  out 
in  detail  a  common  school  course.  The  Herbart 
school  of  teachers  has  presumed  to  call  its  interpre- 
tation of  educational  ideas  "scientific  pedagogy,"  a 
somewhat  pretentious  name  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
many  leading  educators  in  Germany,  England,  and 
elsewhere  deny  the  existence  of  such  a  science.  But 
if  not  a  science,  it  is  at  least  a  serious  attempt  at  one. 
The  exposition  of  principles  that  follows  is  largely 
derived  from  them. 

With  us  the  present  time  is  favorable  to  a  rational 
inquiry  into  relative  educational  values  and  to  a 
thoroughgoing  application  of  the  results  to  school 
courses  and  methods. 

In  the  first  place  the  old  classical  monopoly  is 
finally  and  completely  broken,  at  least  so  far  as  the 


24     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

cbftimon  school  is  concerned.  It  ruled  education  for 
several  centuries,  but  now  even  its  methods  of  disci- 
pline are  losing  their  antique  hold.  The  natural 
sdie^nces,  rtiodern  history,  and  literature  have  assumed 
alfi  equal  place  with  the  old  classical  studies  in  col- 
lege courses.  Fteed  from  old  traditions  and  prej- 
udice, our  common  school  is  now  grounded  in  the 
vernacular,  in  the  national  history  and  literature,  and 
in  home  geography  a;nd  natural  science.  Its  roots 
go  deep  into  native  soil.  Secondly,  the  door  of  the 
common  school  has  been  thrown  open  to  the  new 
studies,  and  they  h'arve  entered  in  a  troop.  History, 
drawing,  natural  science,  manual  training,  modern 
literature,  and  physical  culture  have  been  added  to 
the  old  reading,  Writing,  and  arithmetic.  The  com- 
mon school  wa;s  never  so  uilti^ammelled.  It  is  free  to 
absorb  into  its  Course  the  select  material^  of  the  best 
studies.  Teachers  really  enjoy  more  freedom  in  se- 
lecting and  arranging  subjects  and  in  introducing  new 
things  tha:n  they  kno\<r  how  to  make  use  of.  There 
is  no  one  in  high  authority  to  check  the  reform 
spirit,  aAd  even  l6cal  boards  are  often  among  the 
advocates  of  change.  In  the  third  place,  by  multi- 
pl^lrig  studies,  the"  common  school  course  has  grown 
more  comple'X  a^d'  heterogeneous.  The  old  reading, 
\^'i*iting,  arithmetic,  atid  grammar  could  not  be  shelved 
for  the  sake  of  the  new  studies,  and  the  same  amount 
of  time  must  be'  divided  now  among  many  branches, 
it  is  hot  to  be  wondered  at  if  all  the  studies  arc 


RELATIVE   VALUE  OF   STUDIES  2$ 

treated  in  a  shallow  and  fragmentary  way.  Some 
of  the  studies,  especially,  are  not  well  taught.  There 
is  less  of  unity  in  education  now  than  there  was  be- 
fore the  classical  studies  and  "  the  three  R's "  lost 
their  supremacy.  Our  common  school  course  has 
become  a  batch  of  miscellanies.  We  are  in  danger 
of  overloading  pupils,  as  well  as  of  making  a  super- 
ficial hodge-podge  of  all  branches.  There  is  impera- 
tive need  for  sifting  the  studies  according  to  their 
value,  as  well  as  for  bringing  them  into  right  connec- 
tion and  ,  dependence  upon  one  another.  The  corre- 
lation of  studies,  which  is  not  only  discussed  but 
seriously  undertaken  in  many  quarters,  is  charged 
with  the  solution  of  this  part  of  the  problem.  The 
superficial  and  miscellaneous  character  of  our  pres- 
ent school  course  will  give  place,  by  means  of  proper 
adjustment  and  interconnection  of  studies,  to  a  deeper 
and  stronger  unity  than  we  have  yet  found.  Fourthly, 
there  is  a  large  body  of  thoughtful  and  inquiring  teach- 
ers and  principals  who  are  working  at  a  revision  of 
the  school  course.  They  seek  something  tangible, 
a  working  plan,  which  will  help  them  in  their  pres- 
ent perplexities  and  show  them  a  wise  use  of  draw- 
ing, music,  art,  manual  training,  natural  science, 
and  literature,  in  harmony  with  the  other  studies. 
Finally,  since  we  are  in  the  midst  of  such  a  break- 
ing-up  period,  we  need  to  take  our  bearings.  In 
order  to  avoid  mistakes  and  excesses,  there  is  a  call 
for    de^p,    impartial,    and    many-sided    thinking   on 


26  THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

educational  problems.  Supposing  that  we  know 
what  the  controlling  aim  of  education  is,  we  are 
next  led  to  inquire  about  and  to  determine,  as  well 
as  we  can,  the  relative  value  of  studies  as  tributary 
to  this  aim. 

In  attempting  this  comprehensive  survey  of  studies 
we  must  keep  in  mind  also  the  development  of  the 
active  powers  in  children,  both  physical  and  mental, 
and  the  demands  of  the  social  and  economic  world 
into  which  their  growing  powers  will  fit.  The  unrest- 
ing energy  of  educational  thought  and  discussion  has 
lifted  into  prominence  a  number  of  big  problems  in 
connection  with  the  school  course,  such  as  the  value 
and  functions  of  natural  science ;  the  ministry  of  the 
fine  arts,  including  literature,  in  education ;  the  value 
of  the  expressive  and  constructive  energies  of  chil- 
dren in  drawing,  moulding,  games  and  physical  exer- 
cises, manual  training  and  industrial  work ;  the 
subordination  of  the  instrumental  studies  like  reading, 
writing,  and  language  to  those  having  a  richer  knowl- 
edge content,  like  science  and  literature,  and  others. 
The  mention  of  these  large  and  as  yet  unsettled 
questions  and  the  number  of  new  studies  which  have 
not  yet  attained  a  sure  footing  in  the  school  course, 
suggest  the  breadth  of  the  field  of  inquiry  upon  which 
we  are  launched. 

Instead  of  discussing  the  many  branches  of  study 
one  after  another,  it  may  be  well  to  make  a  broad 
division  of  them  into  three  classes  and  observe  the 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  STUDIES  2/ 

marked  features  and  value  of  each.  First,  history, 
including  the  subject-matter  of  biography,  history, 
story,  and  other  parts  of  literature.  Second,  the 
natural  sciences.  Third,  the  formal  studies,  —  gram- 
mar, writing,  much  of  arithmetic,  and  the  symbols 
used  in  reading. 

The  first  two  open  up  the  great  fields  of  real 
knowledge  and  experience,  the  world  of  man  and  of 
external  nature,  the  two  great  reservoirs  of  interest- 
ing facts.  We  will  first  examine  these  two  fields 
and  consider  their  value  as  constituent  parts  of  the 
school  course. 

History,  in  our  present  sense,  includes  what  we 
usually  understand  by  it,  as  American  history,  modern 
and  ancient  history,  also  biography,  tradition,  fiction 
as  expressing  human  life  and  the  novel  or  romance, 
and  historical  and  literary  masterpieces  of  all  sorts, 
as  the  drama,  historical  novels,  and  the  epic  poem, 
so  far  as  they  delineate  man's  experience  and  char- 
acter. In  a  still  broader  sense,  history  includes 
language  as  the  expression  of  men's  thoughts  and 
feelings.  But  this  is  the  formal  side  of  history  with 
which  we  are  not  at  present  concerned.  History  deals 
with  men's  motives  and  actions  as  individuals  or  in 
society,  with  their  dispositions,  habits,  and  institutions, 
and  with  the  monuments  and  literature  they  have  left. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  aim  which  we  have  set 
up,  our  first  inquiry  is  in  regard  to  the  moral  signifi- 
cance of  the  broad  field  of  history. 


28     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

The  relations  of  persons  to  each  other  in  society 
give  rise  to  morals.  How  ?  The  act  of  a  person  — 
as  when  a  fireman  rescues  a  child  from  a  burning 
building  —  shows  a  disposition  in  the  actor.  We 
praise  or  condemn  this  disposition  as  the  deed  is 
good  or  bad.  But  each  moral  judgment,  given  with 
honesty  and  feeling,  leaves  the  child  stronger.  To 
appreciate  and  judge  fairly  the  life  and  acts  of  a 
woman  like  Mary  Lyon,  or  of  a  man  such  as  Samuel 
Armstrong,  is  to  awaken  something  of  their  spirit 
and  moral  temper  in  ourselves.  Whether  in  the  life 
of  David  or  of  Shylock,  or  of  the  people  whom  they 
typify,  the  study  of  men  is  primarily  a  study  of 
morals,  of  conduct.  It  is  in  the  personal  hardships, 
struggles,  and  mutual  contact  of  men  that  motives 
and  moral  impulses  are  observed  and  weighed.  In 
such  men  as  John  Bunyan,  William  the  Silent,  and 
John  Quincy  Adams,  we  are  much  interested  to  know 
what  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  they  possessed,  and 
especially  what  human  sympathies  and  antipathies 
they  felt.  Livingstone  embodied  in  his  African  life 
certain  Christian  virtues  which  we  love  and  honor 
the  more  because  they  were  so  severely  and  success- 
fully tested.  Although  the  history  of  men  and  of 
society  has  many  uses,  its  best  influence  is  in  illus- 
trating and  inculcating  moral  ideas.  It  is  teaching 
morals  by  example.  Even  living  companions  often 
exert  less  influence  upon  children  than  the  characters 
impressed    upon   their   minds   from    reading.      The 


RELATIVE  VALUE   OF   STUDIES  29 

deliberate  plan  of  teachers  and  parents  might  make 
this  influence  more  salutary  and  effective. 

It  will  strike  most  teachers  as  a  surprise  to  say 
that  the  chief  use  of  history  study  is  to  form  moral 
notions  in  children.  Their  experience  with  this 
branch  of  school  work  has  been  quite  different. 
They  have  not  so  regarded  nor  used  history.  It  has 
been  generally  looked  upon  as  a  body  of  useful  in- 
formation that  intelligent  persons  must  possess.  Our 
history  texts  also  have  been  constructed  for  another 
purpose,  namely,  to  summarize  and  present  impor- 
tant facts  in  as  brief  space  as  possible,  not  to  reveal 
personal  actions  and  character  as  a  formative  moral 
influence  in  the  education  of  the  young.  Even  as 
sources  of  valuable  information,  Spencer  shows  that 
our  histories  have  been  extremely  deficient ;  but  for 
moral  purposes  they  are  almost  worthless. 

Now  moral  dispositions  are  a  better  fruitage  and 
test  of  worth  in  men  than  any  intellectual  acquire- 
ments. History  is  already  a  recognized  study  of 
admitted  value  in  the  schools.  It  is  a  shame  to  strip 
it  of  that  content  and  of  that  influence  which  are 
its  chief  merit.  To  study  the  conduct  of  persons  as 
illustrating  right  actions  is,  in  quality,  the  highest 
form  of  instruction.  Other  very  important  things 
are  also  involved  in  a  right  study  of  history.  There 
are  economic,  political,  and  social  institutions  evolved 
out  of  previous  history,  there  are  present  intricate 
problems  to  be  approached  and  understood.      But 


30     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

all  these  questions  rest  to  a  large  extent  upon  moral 
principles.  While  these  political,  social,  and  eco- 
nomic interests  are  beyond  the  present  reach  of  chil- 
dren, biography,  individual  life  and  action  in  their 
simple  forms,  are  plain  to  their  understanding.  They 
not  only  make  moral  conduct  real  and  impressive,  but 
they  gradually  lead  up  to  the  appreciation  of  history 
in  its  social  and  institutional  forms. 

Some  of  the  best  historical  materials  (from  biog- 
raphy, tradition,  and  fiction)  should  be  absorbed  by 
children  in  each  grade  as  an  essential  part  of  the  sub- 
stratum of  moral  ideas.  This  implies  more  than  a 
collection  of  historical  stories  in  a  supplementary 
reader  for  intermediate  grades.  It  means  that  history, 
in  the  broad  sense,  is  to  be  an  important  study  in 
every  grade,  and  that  it  shall  become  a  centre  and 
reservoir  from  which  history  proper,  literature,  read- 
ing books,  and  language  lessons  draw  their  supplies. 
These  biographies,  stories,  poems,  and  historical  epi- 
sodes must  be  the  best  which  our  history  and  classic 
literature  can  furnish,  and  whatever  is  of  like  virtue 
in  the  life  of  other  kindred  peoples,  of  England,  Ger- 
many, Greece,  etc. 

The  testimony  of  many  men  is  that  the  study  of 
Plutarch's  lives  produced  a  profound  impression  upon 
them,  influencing  their  standards  and  ideals  of  char- 
acter. The  Bible  stories  of  patriarchs,  judges, 
prophets,  and  kings,  revealing  personal  character  in 
illustrative  deeds,  have  made  deep  marks  upon  the 


•  r»  o  t  -r  V     I 
RELATIVE  VALUE   OF   STUl 


tOF  THF 
31 


character  of  boys  and  girls  for  many  hundreds  of 
years  and  in  many  nations.  The  moulding  influence 
of  the  ''  Iliad  "  and  the  "  Odyssey,"  the  Bible  of  the 
Greeks,  upon  that  wonderful  people  was  almost  crea- 
tive. When  we  think  of  such  books  as  "Pilgrim's 
Progress,"  "  The  Autobiography  of  Franklin,"  "  Rob- 
inson Crusoe,"  "  Goethe's  Autobiography,"  Macau- 
lay's  "Essays  on  Johnson  and  Milton,"  Scott's  "Tales 
of  a  Grandfather,"  and  Hawthorne's  "  Biographical 
Sketches,"  we  are  surprised  at  the  wide-reaching 
influence  of  stories  of  personal  life  and  action.  In 
the  history  of  the  church  the  most  commanding  influ- 
ences have  gone  out  from  the  personal  history  of 
Paul,  Stephen,  Peter,  and  Barnabas,  to  say  nothing  of 
Christ  himself  as  shown  in  the  Gospels.  The  vital 
force  in  church  history  centres  itself  largely  in  such 
men  as  Augustine,  Loyola,  Luther,  Coligny,  Wesley, 
Calvin,  Knox,  and  what  has  been  known  of  their 
personal  lives.  In  political  history  the  same  can  be 
said  of  Winthrop,  Hamilton,  Washington,  Jackson, 
Clay,  and  others.  The  power  of  biographical  story 
reveals  itself  in  equal  force  in  England,  Germany, 
France,  America,  and  in  the  ancient  nations. 

How  the  personality  of  Socrates  prints  itself  with 
distinct  impression  upon  every  one  who  reads  Xeno- 
phon !  The  historical  novels  of  Scott,  Kingsley,  and 
Ebers  illustrate  the  same  penetrating  influence  of 
personal  narrative.  These  few  examples  are  perhaps 
sufficient  to   suggest   the  value   of    such    historical 


32     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

material  for  moral  educative  purposes.  These  cover 
only  a  part  of  the  field.  Dramas,  poems,  novels,  and 
history  proper  are  equally  potent  for  moral  culture. 

If  history  in  this  sense  can  be  made  a  strong  aux- 
iliary to  moral  education  in  common  schools,  the 
whole  body  of  earnest  teachers  will  be  gratified.  For 
there  is  no  theme  among  them  of  such  perennial 
interest  and  depth  of  meaning  as  moral  culture  in 
schools.  It  is  useless  to  talk  of  confining  our  teachers 
to  the  intellectual  exercises  outlined  in  text-books. 
They  are  conscious  of  deaUng  with  children  of  moral 
susceptibility.  In  our  meetings,  discussions  on  the 
means  of  moral  influence  are  more  frequent  and  ear- 
nest than  on  any  other  topic  ;  and  in  their  daily  work 
hundreds  of  our  teachers  are  aiming  at  moral  charac- 
ter in  children  more  than  at  anything  else.  As  they 
free  themselves  from  mechanical  requirements  and 
begin  to  recognize  their  true  function,  they  discover 
the  transcendent  importance  of  moral  education,  that 
it  underlies  and  gives  meaning  to  all  the  other  work 
of  the  teacher. 

But  teachers  heretofore  have  taken  a  narrow  view 
of  the  moral  influences  at  their  disposal.  Their  ever 
recurring  emphatic  refrain  has  been  *'  the  example 
of  the  teacher,"  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  there  is  no 
better  means  of  instilling  moral  ideas  than  the  pres- 
ence and  inspiration  of  a  high-principled  teacher. 
We  know,  however,  that  teachers  need  moral  stimulus 
and  encouragement  as  much  as  anybody.     It  will  not 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  STUDIES         33 

do  to  suppose  that  they  have  reached  the  pinnacle 
of  moral  excellence  and  can  stand  as  all-sufficient 
exemplars  to  children.  The  teacher  himself  must 
have  food  as  well  as  the  children.  He  must  partake 
of  the  loaf  he  distributes  to  them.  The  clergyman 
also  should  be  an  example  of  Christian  virtue,  but  he 
preaches  the  gospel  as  illustrated  in  the  life  of  Christ, 
of  St.  Paul,  and  of  others.  In  pressing  home  moral 
and  religious  truths  his  appeal  is  to  great  sources  of 
inspiration  which  lie  outside  of  himself.  Why  should 
the  teacher  rely  upon  his  own  unaided  example  more 
than  the  preacher.'*  No  teacher  can  feel  that  he 
embodies  in  himself,  except  in  an  imperfect  way,  the 
strong  moral  ideas  that  have  made  the  history  of 
good  men  worth  reading.  No  matter  what  resources 
he  may  have  in  his  own  character,  the  teacher  needs 
to  employ  moral  forces  that  lie  outside  of  himself, 
ideals  toward  which  he  struggles  and  toward  which 
he  inspires  and  leads  others.  The  very  fact  that  he 
appreciates  and  admires  a  man  like  Longfellow  or 
Peter  Cooper  will  stir  the  children  with  like  feelings. 
In  this  sense  it  is  a  mistake  to  centre  all  attention 
upon  the  conduct  of  the  teacher.  He  is  but  a  guide, 
or,  like  Goldsmith's  preacher,  he  allures  to  brighter 
worlds  and  leads  the  way.  It  is  better  for  pupil  and 
teacher  to  enter  into  the  companionship  of  common 
aims  and  ideals.  For  them  to  study  together  and 
admire  the  conduct  of  Roger  Williams  is  to  bring 
them  into  closer   sympathy,  and   what   do   teachers 


34     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

need  more  than  to  get  into  personal  sympathy  with 
their  children?  Let  them  climb  the  hill  together, 
and  enjoy  the  views  together,  and  grow  so  intimate  in 
their  aims  and  sympathies  that  after-life  cannot  break 
the  bond.  When  the  inspirations  and  aims  thus 
gained  have  gradually  changed  into  tendencies  and 
habits,  the  child  is  morally  full-fledged.  It  is  high 
ground  upon  which  to  place  a  youth,  or  aid  in  placing 
him,  but  it  is  clearly  in  view. 

It  is  only  gradually  that  moral  ideas  gain  an 
ascendency,  first  over  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  a 
child,  and,  later  still,  over  his  conduct.  Many  good 
impressions  at  first  seem  to  bear  no  fruit  in  action. 
But  examples  and  experience  reiterate  the  truth  till  it 
finds  a  firm  lodgement  and  begins  to  act  as  a  check 
upon  natural  impulses.  Many  a  child  reads  the 
stories  in  the  Youth's  Companion  with  absorbing 
interest  but  in  the  home  circle  fails  noticeably  to 
imitate  the  conduct  he  admires.  But  moral  ideas 
must  grow  a  little  before  they  can  yield  fruit.  The 
seed  of  example  must  drop  into  the  soil  of  the  mind 
under  favorable  conditions ;  it  must  germinate  and 
send  up  its  shoots  to  some  height  before  its  presence 
and  nature  can  be  clearly  seen.  The  application  of 
moral  ideas  to  conduct  is  very  important,  even  in 
childhood,  but  patience  and  care  are  necessary  in 
most  cases.  There  must  be  timely  sowing  of  the 
seed  and  judicious  cultivation,  if  good  fruits  are 
to   be   gathered  later   on.     There    is    indeed   much 


RELATIVE   VALUE   OF   STUDIES  35 

anxiety  and  painful  uncertainty  on  the  part  of  those 
who  charge  themselves  with  the  moral  training  of 
children.  Labor  and  birth  pains  are  antecedent  to 
the  delivery  of  a  moral  being.  Then,  again,  a  child 
must  develop  according  to  what  is  in  him,  according 
to  his  nature  and  peculiar  disposition.  The  processes 
of  growth  are  within  him,  and  the  best  you  can  do 
is  to  give  them  scope.  He  is  free,  and  you  are  bound 
to  minister  to  his  best  freedom.  The  common  school 
age  is  the  formative  period.  At  six  a  child  is  morally 
immature ;  at  fifteen  perhaps  the  die  has  been 
stamped.  This  youthful  wilderness  must  be  crossed. 
We  can't  turn  back.  There  is  no  other  way  of  reach- 
ing the  promised  land.  But  there  are  rebellions  and 
baitings  and  disorderly  scenes. 

This  is  a  tortuous  road.  Isn't  there  a  quicker 
and  easier  way  ?  The  most  speedily  constructed 
road  across  this  region  is  a  short  treatise  on  morals 
for  teacher  and  pupil.  In  this  way  it  is  possible 
to  have  all  the  virtues  and  faults  tabulated,  labelled, 
and  transferred  in  brief  space  to  the  minds  of  the 
children  (if  the  discipline  is  rigorous  enough).  Swal- 
low a  catechism,  reduced  to  a  verbal  memory  product. 
Pack  away  the  essence  of  morals  in  a  few  general 
laws  and  rules,  and  have  the  children  learn  them. 
Some  day  they  may  understand.  What  astounding 
faith  in  memory-cram  and  dry  forms !  We  can 
pave  such  a  road  through  the  fields  of  moral  science, 
but  when  a  child  has  travelled  it,  is  he  a  whit  better .? 


36     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

No  such  paved  road  is  good  for  anything.  It  isn't 
even  comfortable.  It  has  been  tried  dozens  of  times 
in  much  less  important  fields  of  knowledge  than 
morals.  Moral  ideas  spring  up  out  of  experience 
with  persons  either  in  real  life  or  in  the  books  we 
read.  Examples  of  moral  action  drawn  from  life 
are  the  only  thing  that  can  give  meaning  to  moral 
precepts.  If  we  see  a  harsh  man  beating  his  horse, 
we  get  an  ineffaceable  impression  of  harshness. 
By  reading  the  story  of  the  Black  Beauty  we 
acquire  a  lively  sympathy  for  animals.  Then  the 
maxim  "  A  merciful  man  is  merciful  to  his  beast " 
will  be  a  good  summary  of  the  impressions  received. 
Moral  ideas  always  have  a  concrete  basis  or  origin. 
Some  companion  with  whose  l"eelings  and  actions 
you  are  in  close  personal  contact,  or  some  character 
from  history  or  fiction  by  whose  personality  you 
have  been  strongly  attracted,  gives  you  your  keen- 
est impressions  of  moral  qualities.  To  begin  with 
abstract  moral  teaching,  or  to  put  faith  in  it,  is  to 
misunderstand  children.  In  morals,  as  in  other 
forms  of  knowledge,  children  are  overwhelmingly 
interested  in  personal  and  individual  examples, 
things  which  have  form,  color,  action.  The  attempt 
to  sum  up  the  important  truths  of  a  subject  and 
present  them  as  abstractions  to  children  is  almost 
certain  to  be  a  failure,  pedagogically  considered. 
It  has  been  demonstrated  again  and  again,  even  in 
high  schools,  that  botany,   chemistry,   physics,  and 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  STUDIES  37 

zoology  cannot  be  taught  by  such  brief  scientific 
compendia  of  rules  and  principles  —  "  Words,  words, 
words,"  as  Hamlet  said.  We  cannot  learn  geography 
from  definitions  and  map  questions,  nor  morals  from 
catechisms.  And  just  as  in  natural  science  we  are 
resorting  perforce  to  plants,  animals,  and  natural 
phenomena,  so  in  morals  we  turn  to  the  deeds  and 
lives  of  men.  Columbus  in  his  varying  fortunes 
leaves  vivid  impressions  of  the  moral  strength  and 
weakness  of  himself  and  of  others.  John  Winthrop 
gives  frequent  examples  of  generous  and  unselfish 
good-will  to  the  settlers  of  Boston.  Little  Lord 
Fauntleroy  is  a  better  treatise  on  morals  for  children 
than  any  of  our  sermonizers  have  written.  We  must 
get  at  morals  without  moralizing  and  drink  in  moral 
convictions  without  resorting  to  moral  platitudes. 
Educators  are  losing  faith  in  words,  definitions,  and 
classifications.  It  is  a  truism  that  we  can't  learn 
chemistry  or  zoology  from  books  alone,  nor  can 
moral  judgments  be  rendered  except  from  individual 
actions. 

A  little  reflection  will  show  that  we  are  only 
demanding  object  lessons  in  the  field  of  moral  edu- 
cation, extensive,  systematic  object  lessons;  choice 
experiences  and  episodes  from  human  life,  simple 
and  clear,  painted  in  natural  colors,  as  shown  by 
our  best  history  and  literature.  To  appreciate  the 
virtues  and  vices,  to  sympathize  with  better  impulses, 
we   must   travel  beyond  words   and  definitions   till 


38     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

we  come  in  contact  with  the  personal  deeds  that 
first  give  rise  to  them.  The  life  of  Martin  Luther, 
with  its  faults  and  merits  honestly  represented,  is 
a  powerful  moral  tonic  to  the  reader;  the  auto- 
biography of  Franklin  brings  out  a  great  variety  of 
homely  truths  in  the  form  of  interesting  episodes 
in  his  career.  Adam  Bede  and  Romola  impress 
us  more  powerfully  and  permanently  than  the  best 
sermons,  because  the  individual  realism  in  them 
leads  to  an  unequalled  vividness  of  moral  judgment 
upon  their  acts.  King  Lear  teaches  us  the  folly 
of  a  rash  judgment  with  overwhelming  force.  Evan- 
geline awakens  our  sympathies  as  no  moralist  ever 
dreamed  of  doing.  Uncle  Tom,  in  Mrs.  Stowe's 
story,  was  a  stronger  preacher  than  Wendell  Phil- 
lips. William  Tell,  in  Schiller's  play,  kindles  our 
love  for  heroic  deeds  into  an  enthusiasm.  The  best 
myths,  historical  biographies,  novels,  and  dramas 
are  the  richest  sources  of  moral  stimulus  because 
they  lead  us  into  the  immediate  presence  of  those 
men  and  women  whose  deeds  stir  up  our  moral 
natures.  In  the  representations  of  the  masters  we 
are  in  the  presence  of  moral  ideas  clothed  in  flesh 
and  blood,  real  and  yet  idealized.  Generosity  is 
not  a  name,  but  the  act  of  a  person  which  wins  our 
interest  and  favor.  To  get  the  impress  of  kind- 
ness we  must  see  an  act  of  kindness  and  feel  the 
glow  it  produces.  When  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  wounded 
on  the  battlefield  and  suffering  with  thirst,  reached 


RELATIVE   VALUE   OF  STUDIES  39 

out  his  hand  for  a  cup  of  water  that  was  brought, 
his  glance  fell  upon  a  dying  soldier  who  viewed 
the  cup  with  great  desire;  Sidney  handed  him  the 
water  with  the  words,  "  Thy  necessity  is  greater 
than  mine."  No  one  can  refuse  his  approval  for 
this  act.  After  telling  the  story  of  the  man  who 
went  down  to  Jericho  and  fell  among  thieves,  and 
then  of  the  priest,  the  Levite,  and  the  Samaritan 
who  passed  that  way,  Jesus  put  the  question  to  his 
critic,  "Who  was  neighbor  to  him  that  fell  among 
thieves  ? "  And  the  answer  came  even  from  un- 
willing lips,  "  He  that  showed  mercy."  When  we 
see  Nathan  Hale  on  the  scaffold  regretting  that  he 
had  but  one  life  to  lose  for  his  country,  we  realize 
better  what  patriotism  is.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
natural  to  condemn  wrong  deeds  when  presented 
clearly  and  objectively  in  the  action  of  another. 
Nero  caused  Christians  to  be  falsely  accused  and 
then  to  be  condemned  to  the  claws  of  wild  beasts 
in  the  arena.  When  such  cruelty  is  practised 
against  the  innocent  and  helpless,  we  condemn  the 
act.  When  Columbus  was  thrown  into  chains  in- 
stead of  being  rewarded,  we  condemn  the  Spaniards. 
In  the  same  way  the  real  world  of  persons  about 
us,  the  acts  of  parents,  companions,  and  teachers, 
are  powerful  in  giving  a  good  or  bad  tone  to  our 
sentiments,  because,  as  living  object  lessons,  their 
impress  is  directly  and  constantly  upon  us. 

In  such  cases,  taken  from  daily  experience   and 


40  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

from  illustrations  of  personal  conduct  in  books,  it  is 
possible  to  observe  how  moral  judgments  originate 
and  by  repetitions  grow  into  convictions.  They 
spring  up  naturally  and  surely  when  we  understand 
well  the  circumstances  under  which  an  act  was  per- 
formed. The  interest  and  sympathy  felt  for  the 
persons  lends  great  vividness  to  the  judgments  ex- 
pressed. Each  individual  act  stands  out  clearly  and 
calls  forth  a  prompt  and  unerring  approval  or  dis- 
approval. (But  later  the  judgment  must  react  upon 
our  own  conduct.)  The  examples  are  simple  and 
objective,  free  from  selfish  interest  on  the  child's 
part,  so  that  good  and  bad  acts  are  recognized  in 
their  true  quality.  These  simple  moral  judgments 
are  only  a  beginning,  only  a  sowing  of  the  seed. 
But  harvests  will  not  grow  and  ripen  unless  seed 
has  been  laid  in  the  ground.  It  is  a  long  road  to 
travel  before  these  early  moral  impressions  develop 
into  firm  convictions  which  rule  the  conduct  of  an 
adult.  But  education  is  necessarily  a  slow  process, 
and  it  is  likely  to  be  a  perverted  one  unless  the  foun- 
dation is  carefully  laid  in  early  years.  The  fitting 
way,  then,  to  cultivate  moral  judgments,  that  is,  to 
start  just  ideas  of  right  and  wrong,  of  virtues  and 
vices,  is  by  a  regular  and  systematic  presentation  of 
persons  illustrating  noble  and  ignoble  acts.  A  pref- 
erence for  the  right  and  an  aversion  for  the  wrong 
will  be  the  sure  result  of  careful  teaching.  Habits 
of  judging  will  be  formed  and  strong  moral  convic- 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  STUDIES  4 1 

tions  established  which  may  be  graduaHy  brought  to 
influence  and  control  action. 

The  objector  intrudes  at  this  point  with  the  warn- 
ing that  moral  character  consists  in  action  and  not 
in  reading  stories ;  that  what  children  need  is  not  so 
much  abundance  of  this  reading  matter  as  opportuni- 
ties to  behave  themselves  in  practical  and  social 
relations.  At  the  same  time  we  are  willing  to  em- 
phasize the  social  environment  and  activities  which 
develop  and  confirm  moral  habits.  But  at  present 
we  are  trying  to  define  and  illustrate  the  conditions 
of  moral  awakening  and  of  steady  moral  enlighten- 
ment^ and  the  early  formation  of  those  attractive 
ideals  which  may  be  strengthened  and  wrought  into 
miduct  as  opportunity  offers. 

A  good  share  of  the  influences  that  are  thrown 
around  an  ordinary  child  needs  to  be  counteracted. 
It  can  be  done  to  a  considerable  extent  by  instruc- 
tiots.  Many  of  the  interesting  characters  of  history 
are  better  company  for  us  and  for  children  than  our 
neighbors  and  contemporaries.  For  the  purposes 
of  moral  example  and  inspiration  we  may  select  as 
companions  for  them  the  best  persons  in  history. 
Their  acts  are  personal,  biographical,  and  interesting, 
and  appeal  at  once  to  children  as  well  as  to  their 
elders.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  a  much  greater 
number  of  our  school  children  should  not  be  brought 
under  the  influence  of  the  best  books  suited  to  their 
age.      Here  is  a  source  of  educational  influence  of 


42     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

high  quality  which  is  left  too  much  to  accident  and 
to  the  natural,  unaided  instinct  of  children.  A  few 
get  the  benefit,  but  many  more  are  capable  of  receiv- 
ing it.  How  much  better  the  school  choice  and 
treatment  of  such  books  may  be  than  the  loose  and 
miscellaneous  reading  of  children,  is  discussed  in 
"Special  Method  in  Reading."  A  fit  introduction 
of  children  to  this  class  of  literature  should  be  in 
the  hands  of  teachers,  and  all  the  later  reading  of 
pupils  will  feel  the  salutary  effect. 

If  this  is  the  proper  origin  and  culture  of  moral 
ideas,  we  desire  to  know  how  to  utilize  it  in  the  common 
school  course.  It  can  only  be  done  by  an  extensive 
use  of  historical  and  literary  materials  in  all  grades, 
(with  the  conscious  purpose  of  shaping  moral  ideas 
and  character.  That  the  school  has  such  influence 
at  its  disposal  cannot  be  reasonably  denied  by  any 
one  who  believes  that  the  family  or  the  church  can 
affect  the  moral  character  of  their  children.  It  may 
be  objected  that  the  school  thus  takes  up  the  proper 
work  of  the  home,  when  it  ought  to  be  occupied  with 
other  things.  Would  that  the  homes  were  all  good ! 
But  even  if  they  were,  the  teacher  could  not  fold  his 
arms  over  a  responsibility  removed.  As  soon  as  a 
boy  enters  school,  if  not  sooner,  he  begins,  in  some 
sense,  to  outgrow  the  home.  New  influences  and 
interests  find  a  lodgement  in  his  affections.  Compan- 
ions, the  wider  range  of  his  acquaintances,  studies, 
and   ambitions,  share   now  with   the   home.      John 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  STUDIES  43 

Locke  objected  radically  to  English  public  schools 
on  this  account ;  but  even  if  we  desired,  we  could  not 
resort  to  private  tutors,  as  Locke  did,  though  with  no 
great  success.  The  child  is  growing  and  changing. 
Who  shall  organize  unity  out  of  the  maze  of  thoughts, 
interests,  and  influences,  casting  out  the  useless  and 
bad,  combining  and  strengthening  the  good  ?  The 
more  service  the  home  renders,  the  better.  The 
child's  range  of  thought  and  ambition  is  expanding. 
Who  has  the  best  survey  of  the  field.?  In  many 
cases,  at  least,  the  teacher,  especially  where  the  par- 
ents lack  the  culture,  and  the  children  need  a  guide. 
Who  spends  six  hours  a  day  directing  these  currents 
of  thought  and  interest  .^^  We  are  not  disposed  to 
underestimate  the  magnitude  of  the  task  here  laid 
upon  the  teacher.  The  rights  and  duties  of  the  home 
are  not  put  in  question.  Indeed,  the  spirit  of  this 
kind  of  teaching  is  best  illustrated  in  a  good  home. 
A  teacher  who  has  a  father's  anxiety  in  the  real  wel- 
fare of  children  will  not  forget  his  duty  in  watching 
their  moral  growth.  The  moral  atmosphere  of  a 
good  home  will  remain  the  ideal  of  the  school.  In 
fact,  Herbart's  plan  of  education  originated  not  in 
a  schoolroom,  but  in  an  excellent  home  in  Switzer- 
land, where  he  spent  three  years  in  the  private  in- 
struction of  three  boys.  The  conscientious  zeal  with 
which  he  devoted  himself  to  the  moral  and  mental 
growth  of  these  children  is  a  model  for  teachers. 
The  shaping  of  three  characters  was,  according  to 


44     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

his  view,  intrusted  to  him.  The  common  notion  of 
intellectual  growth  and  strength  which  rules  in  such 
cases  was  at  once  subordinated  to  character  develop- 
ment in  the  moral  sense.  Not  that  the  two  ideas  are 
at  all  antagonistic,  but  one  is  more  important  than 
the  other.  The  selection  of  reading  matter,  of  stud- 
fes,  and  of  employments  was  adapted  to  each  boy 
with  a  view  to  influencing  conduct  and  moral  action. 
The  Herbart  school  adheres  to  this  view  of  educa- 
tion, and  has  transferred  its  spirit  and  method  to  the 
schools.  The  Herbartians  have  the  hardihood,  in 
this  age  of  moral  sceptics,  to  believe  not  only  in 
moral  example  but  also  in  moral  teaching.  (By 
moral  sceptics  we  mean  those  who  believe  in  morals 
but  not  in  moral  instruction.)  They  seek  first  of  all 
historical  materials  of  the  richest  moral  content,  in 
vivid  personification,  upon  which  to  nourish  the 
moral  spirit  of  children.  If  properly  treated,  this 
subject-matter  will  soon  win  the  children  by  its 
power  over  feeling  and  judgment.  With  Crusoe  the 
child  goes  through  every  hardship  and  success ; 
with  Abraham  he  lives  in  tents,  seeks  pastures  for 
his  flocks,  and  generously  marches  out  to  the  rescue 
of  his  kinsman.  He  should  not  read  Caesar  with 
a  slow  and  toilsome  drag  (parsing  and  construing) 
that  would  render  a  bright  boy  stupid.  If  he  goes 
with  Caesar  at  all,  he  must  build  an  agger,  fight 
battles,  construct  bridges,  and  approve  or  condemn 
Caesar's   acts.      But   we   doubt  the   moral   value   of 


RELATIVE  VALUE   OF   STUDIES  45 

Caesar's  Gallic  wars  for  children.  By  reading  Plu- 
tarch we  may  see  that  the  Latins  and  Greeks, 
before  the  days  of  their  degeneracy,  nourished 
their  rising  youth  upon  the  traditions  of  their 
ancestry.  This  education  produced  a  strong  and 
sinewy  brood  of  moral  qualities.  Their  great  men 
were  great  characters,  largely  because  of  the  mother- 
milk  of  national  tradition  and  family  training.  In 
Scotch,  English,  and  German  history  we  are  familiar 
with  Alfred,  Bruce,  Siegfried,  and  many  other  heroes 
of  similar  value  in  the  training  of  youth. 

It  will  be  well  for  us  to  look  into  our  own  history 
and  see  what  sort  of  moral  heritage  of  educative 
materials  it  has  left  us.  What  noble  examples  does 
it  furnish  of  right  thought  and  action  ?  Have  we 
any  home-bred  food  for  the  nourishment  of  our 
growing  youth.?  Our  native  American  history  is 
indeed  nobler  in  tone  and  more  abundant.  For 
moral  educative  purposes  in  the  training  of  the 
young  the  history  of  America,  from  the  early  ex- 
plorations and  settlements  along  the  Atlantic  coast 
to  the  present,  has  scarcely  a  parallel  in  history. 
It  was  a  race  of  moral  heroes  that  led  the  first 
colonies  to  many  of  the  early  settlements.  Winthrop, 
Penn,  Williams,  Oglethorpe,  Raleigh,  and  Colum- 
bus were  great  and  simple  characters,  deeply  moral 
and  practical.  For  culture  purposes,  where  can  their 
equal  be  found }  And  where  was  given  a  better 
opportunity  for  the  display  of  personal  virtues  than 


46     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

by  the  leaders  of  these  little  danger-encircled  com 
munities  ?  The  leaven  of  purity,  piety,  and  manly 
independence  which  they  brought  with  them  and 
illustrated,  has  never  ceased  to  work  powerfully 
among  our  people.  Add  to  the  above  list  such 
names  as  Davenport,  Hooker,  Eliot,  Stark,  Putnam, 
Washington,  Champlain,  Marquette,  La  Salle,  Stuy- 
vesant,  Sevier,  Robertson,  Boone,  Clark,  Lincoln, 
and  Fremont,  —  men  who  struggled  with  pioneer 
dangers  and  hardships.  Then  join  to  this  list  the 
names  of  leaders  and  statesmen,  poets,  philanthro- 
pists, and  inventors,  preachers  and  educators  of  the 
people,  and  we  have  a  remarkable  list  of  men,  dis- 
tinguished by  strength  and  excellence  of  personal 
character.  Why  not  bring  the  children  into  direct 
contact  with  these  characters  in  the  intermediate 
grades,  not  by  short  and  sketchy  stories,  but  by 
life  pictures  of  these  men  and  their  surroundings.? 
We  have  not  been  wholly  lacking  in  literary  artists 
who  have  worked  up  a  part  of  these  materials  into 
a  more  durable  and  acceptable  form  for  our  schools. 
We  need  to  make  an  abundant  use  of  this  and  other 
history  for  our  boys  and  girls,  not  by  devoting  a 
year  in  the  upper  grades  to  a  barren  outline  of 
American  annals,  but  by  a  proper  distribution  of 
these  and  other  similar  rich  treasures  throughout 
the  grades  of  the  common  school. 

Tradition   and   fiction   are   scarcely   less   valuable 
than  biography  and  history,  because  of  their  vivid 


RELATIVE  VALUE   OF   STUDIES  47 

portrayal  of  strong  and  typical  characters.  Our 
own  literature,  and  the  world's  literature  at  large, 
are  a  storehouse  well  stocked  with  moral  educative 
materials,  properly  suited  to  children  at  different 
ages,  if  only  sorted,  selected,  and  arranged.  But 
this  requires  broad  knowledge  of  our  best  literature 
and  clear  insight  into  child-character  at  different 
ages.  This  problem  will  not  be  solved  in  a  day, 
nor  in  a  lifetime. 

In  making  a  progressive  series  of  our  best  his- 
torical and  literary  products,  it  is  necessary  to  select 
those  materials  which  are  better  adapted  than  others 
to  interest,  influence,  and  mould  the  character  of 
children  at  each  time  of  life.  It  is  now  generally 
agreed  by  the  best  teachers  that  these  selections 
shall  be  the  best  stories  and  classical  masterpieces, 
—  not  in  fragments,  but  as  wholes.  They  should 
be  those  materials  that  bear  the  stamp  of  genuine 
nobility.  Goethe  says,  "The  best  is  good  enough 
for  children."  For  some  years  past,  in  our  grammar 
grades  we  have  been  using  some  of  the  best  selec- 
tions of  Whittier,  Longfellow,  Bryant,  and  others; 
and  we  are  not  even  frightened  by  the  length  of 
such  productions  as  "  Evangeline,"  "  The  Lady  of 
the  Lake,"  or  "Julius  Caesar."  A  simple  adapted 
version  of  "  Robinson  Crusoe "  is  used  in  some 
schools  as  a  second  reader.  From  time  immemorial 
choice  selections  of  prose  and  verse  have  formed 
the   staple   of    our    readers   above   the   third.      But 


/i 


48  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

generally  these  selections  are  scrappy  and  frag- 
mentary. Few  of  the  great  masterpieces  have  been 
used,  because  most  of  them  are  supposed  to  be 
too  long.  Broken  fragments  of  our  choice  literary 
products  have  been  served  up,  but  the  best  literary 
works  as  wholes  have  never  been  given  to  the 
children  in  the  schools.  The  Greek  youth  were 
better  served  with  the  '*  Iliad  "  and  **  Odyssey,"  and 
some  of  our  grandfathers  with  the  tales  of  the  Old 
Testament.  We  now  go  still  farther  back  in  the 
child-life  and  make  use  of  fairy  tales  in  the  first 
grade.  But  many  are  not  yet  able  to  realize  that 
select  fairy  stories  are  genuinely  classical,  and  that 
they  are  as  well  adapted  to  stimulate  the  minds  of 
children  as  "  Hamlet "  the  minds  of  adults.* 

The  chief  aim  of  our  schools  all  along  has  not 
been  an  appreciation  of  literary  masterpieces,  either 
in  their  moral  or  art  value,  but  the  acquisition  of 
skill  in  reading,  fluency,  and  naturalness  of  expres' 
sion.  Our  schools  have  been  almost  completely 
absorbed  in  the  purely  formal  use  of  our  literary 
materials,  learning  to  read  in  the  earlier  grades  and 
learning  to  read  with  rhetorical  expression  and  con- 
fidence in  the  later  ones.  In  the  present  argument 
our  chief  concern  is  not  with  the  formal  use  of 
literary  materials  for  practice  in  reading,  but  with 
fthe  moral  culture,  conviction,  and  habit  of  life  they 
may  foster.      Nor  have  we  chiefly  in  view  the  art 

1  See  *♦  Special  Method  in  Primary  Reading  and  Story." 


RELATIVE  VALUE   OF   STUDIES  49 

side  of  our  best  literary  pieces.  Appreciation  of 
beauty  in  poetry  and  of  strength  in  prose  is  admi- 
rable and  should  contribute  powerfully  to  the  main 
purpose.  Coming  in  direct  and  vivid  contact  with 
manly  deeds  or  with  unselfish  acts  as  personified  in 
choice  biography,  history,  fiction,  and  real  life,  will 
inspire  children  with  thoughts  that  make  life  worth 
living.  Neither  formal  skill  in  reading  nor  apprecia- 
tion of  literary  art  can  atone  for  the  lack  of  direct 
moral  incentive  which  historical  studies  should  give. 
All  three  ends  should  be  reached. 

Many  teachers  are  now  calling  for  a  change  in 
the  spirit  with  which  the  best  biography  and  litera- 
ture are  used.  They  call  for  an  improvement  in 
the  quality  and  an  increase  in  the  quantity  of  com- 
plete historical  episodes  and  of  literary  masterpieces. 
An  appreciative  reading  of  "  Ivanhoe  "  revives  the 
spirit  of  that  age.  The  life  of  Samuel  Adams  is  an 
epic  that  gives  the  youth  a  chance  to  live  amid  the 
stirring  scenes  of  Boston  in  a  notable  time.  Chil- 
dren are  to  live  in  thought  and  interest  the  lives  of 
many  men  of  other  generations,  as  of  Tell,  Colum- 
bus, Livingstone,  Lincoln,  Penn,  Franklin,  and  Fulton. 
They  are  to  partake  of  the  experiences  of  the  best 
typical  men  in  the  story  of  our  own  and  of  other 
countries. 

The  use  of  the  best  historical  and  literary  works 
as  a  means  of  strengthening  moral  motives  and 
principles  with  children  whose  minds  and  characters 


50     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

are  developing,  is  a  high  aim  in  itself,  and  it  will 
add  interest  and  life  to  the  formal  studies,  such  as 
reading,  spelling,  grammar,  and  composition,  which 
spring  out  of  this  valuable  subject-matter. 

History,  in  this  broad  and  liberal  sense,  should  be 
a  powerful  constituent  of  a  child's  education.  That 
subject-matter  which  contains  the  essence  of  moral 
culture  in  generative  form  deserves  to  constitute  the 
chief  mental  food  of  young  people.  The  conviction 
of  the  high  moral  value  of  historic  subjects  and  of 
their  peculiar  adaptability  to  children  at  different 
ages,  brings  us  to  a  positive  judgment  as  to  their 
relative  value  among  studies.  The  first  question, 
preliminary  to  all  others  in  the  common  school 
course,  "  What  is  the  most  important  study  ? "  is 
answered  by  putting  the  study  of  man  in  history  and 
literature  at  the  head  of  the  list. 

Natural  science  takes  the  second  place.  In  many 
respects  it  is  coordinate  with  history.  The  object 
world,  which  is  so  interesting,  so  informing,  and  so 
interwoven  with  the  needs,  labors,  and  progress  of 
men,  furnishes  the  second  great  constituent  of  edu- 
cation for  children.  Botany,  zo5logy,  and  the  other 
natural  sciences,  taken  as  a  unit,  constitute  the  field 
of  nature  apart  from  man.  They  furnish  us  an 
understanding  of  the  varied  objects  and  complex 
phenomena  of  nature.  It  is  one  of  the  imperative 
needs  of  all  human  minds  that  have  retained  their 
childlike   thoughtfulness    and    spirit   of    inquiry,   to 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  $1 

desire  to  understand  nature,  to  classify  the  variety 
of  objects  and  appearances,  to  trace  the  chain  of 
causes,  and  to  search  out  the  simple  laws  of  nature's 
operations.  The  command  early  came  to  men  to 
subdue  the  earth,  and  we  understand  better  than 
primitive  man  that  it  is  subdued  through  investiga- 
tion and  study.  All  the  forces  and  bounties  of 
nature  are  to  be  made  serviceable  to  us,  and  it  can 
only  be  done  by  understanding  her  facts  and  laws. 
The  road  to  mastery  leads  through  patient  observa- 
tion, experiment,  and  study. 

But  we  are  concerned  with  the  educational  value 
of  the  natural  sciences.     Waitz  says  :  — 

"  A  correct  philosophy  of  the  world  and  of  life  is 
possible  to  a  person  only  on  the  basis  of  a  knowledge  of 
one's  self  and  of  one's  relation  to  surrounding  nature." 

Diesterweg  says :  — 

"  No  one  can  afford  to  neglect  a  knowledge  of 
nature  who  desires  to  get  a  comprehension  of  the 
world  and  of  God  according  to  human  possibility, 
or  who  desires  to  find  his  proper  relation  to  Him  and 
to  real  things.  He  who  knows  nothing  of  human 
history  is  an  ignoramus,  likewise  he  who  knows 
nothing  of  natural  science.  To  know  nothing  of 
either  is  a  pure  shame.  Ignorance  of  nature  is  an 
unpardonable  perversion." 

Kraepelin  speaks  as  follows :  — 

"  Instruction  should  open  up  to  a  pupil  an  under- 
standing of  the  present,  and  thereby  furnish  a  basis 


f  UNIVERSITY  j 


52     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

for  a  frank  and  many-sided  philosophy  of  life,  rest- 
ing upon  reality.  But  to  the  present  belongs  the 
world  outside  of  us.  Of  this  present  there  can  be 
no  such  thing  as  an  understanding  unless  it  relates 
not  only  to  inter-human  relations,  but  also  to  rela- 
tions of  man  to  animal,  of  animal  to  plant,  and  of 
organic  life  to  inorganic  life.  The  necessity  of 
assuming  a  relation  of  our  environment  is  unavoid- 
able, and  this  can  only  be  done  by  acquainting  our- 
selves with  the  surrounding  world  in  every  direction. 
This  requirement  would  remain  in  force,  though 
man,  like  a  god,  were  set  above  nature  and  her 
laws.  But  man  lives,  acts,  and  dies  not  outside  of 
but  within  the  circle  of  nature's  laws.  This  maxim 
is  axiomatic  and  contains  the  final  judgment  against 
those  who  claim  that  a  comprehensive  but  unified 
philosophy  of  life  is  possible  without  a  knowledge 
of  nature." 

Herbart  says :  — 

"Here  (in  nature)  lies  the  abode  of  real  truth, 
which  does  not  retreat  before  tests  into  an  inaccessi- 
ble past  (as  does  history).  This  genuinely  empirical 
character  distinguishes  the  natural  sciences  and 
makes  their  loss  irretrievable.  It  is  here  (in  nature) 
that  the  object  disentangles  itself  from  all  fancies 
and  opinions,  and  constantly  stimulates  the  spirit  of 
observation.  Here,  then,  is  found  an  obstruction  to 
extravagant  thinking,  such  as  the  sciences  themselves 
could  not  better  devise." 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  53 

Ziller  says :  — 

''  The  natural  sciences  are  necessary  in  education 
because  from  the  province  of  nature  (as  well  as  from 
history)  are  derived  those  means  and  resources  which 
are  necessary  to  accomplish  the  purposes  of  the  will 
in  action.  Means  and  forces  are  the  natural  condi- 
tions for  the  realization  af  aims.  Without  knowledge 
of  and  intelligent  power  over  nature,  it  is  dif^cult  to 
realize  that  certain  aims  are  possible;  action  cannot 
be  successful ;  will  effort,  based  upon  the  firm  con- 
viction of  ability,  that  is,  judicious  exercise  of  will, 
is  impossible." 

We  quote  also  from  Professor  Rein :  — 

"  Let  us  observe  in  passing,  that  in  the  great 
industrial  contest  between  civilized  nations,  that  peo- 
ple will  suffer  defeat  which  falls  behind  in  the  cul- 
ture of  natural  science^  and  for  this  reason  the 
motive  of  self-protection  would  demand  natural 
science  instruction.  In  favor  of  this  teaching,  the 
claim  is  further  made  that  no  science  is  so  well 
adapted  to  train  the  mind  to  inductive  thought  pro- 
cesses as  that  which  rests  entirely  upon  induction, 
and  that  natural  science  study  is  in  a  position  to 
resist  more  easily  and  successfully  than  all  other 
studies  the  deeply  rooted  tendency  in  all  branches 
to  substitute  words  for  ideas." 

Rein  ("  Das  vierte  Schuljahr  ")  explains  further  the 
leading  ideas  and  standpoints  which  have  appeared 
in  historical  order   among   science   teachers   in   the 


54     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

common  school.  From  the  first  crude  ideas  there 
has  been  marked  progress  toward  higher  aims  in 
science  teaching. 

1.  Natural  history  stories  for  entertainment.  Many 
curious  and  entertaining  facts  in  connection  with  ani- 
mal life  were  searched  out,  more  especially  unusual 
and  spicy  anecdotes  of  shrewdness  and  intelligence. 
Some  of  the  old  readers,  and  even  of  the  recent  ones, 
are  enriched  with  such  marvels. 

2.  Utility,  or  the  study  of  things  in  nature  that  are 
directly  useful  or  hurtful  to  man.  Whatever  fruits 
or  animals  or  herbs  are  of  plain  service  to  man,  as 
well  as  things  poisonous  or  dangerous,  were  studied 
because  such  information  would  be  of  future  service. 
It  is  a  purely  practical  aim,  at  first  very  narrow,  but 
in  an  enlarged  and  liberal  sense  of  much  importance. 

3.  Training  of  the  senses  and  of  the  observing 
power.  By  a  study  and  description  of  natural  objects 
sense  perception  was  to  be  sharpened  and  a  habit 
of  close  observation  formed.  Among  science  teachers 
to-day  no  aim  is  more  emphasized  than  this.  It  also 
stores  away  a  body  of  useful  ideas  of  great  future 
value.  This  is  an  intellectual  aim  that  accords  better 
with  the  purpose  of  the  school  than  the  preceding. 

4.  Analysis  and  determination  of  specimens.  To 
examine  and  trace  a  plant,  mineral,  or  insect  to  its 
true  classification  and  name  has  occupied  much  of 
the  time  of  students.  It  requires  nice  discrimination, 
a  comprehensive  grasp  of  relations,  and  a  power  to 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  55 

seize  and  hold  common  characteristics.  Many  of  our 
text-books  and  courses  of  study  are  based  chiefly 
upon  this  idea. 

5.  System-making,  or  the  reduction  of  all  things 
in  nature  to  a  systematic  whole,  with  a  place  for 
everything.  Some  of  the  greatest  scientists,  Lin- 
naeus, for  example,  looked  upon  scientific  classifica- 
tion as  the  chief  aim  of  nature  study.  It  has  had  a 
great  influence  upon  schools  and  teachers.  The 
attempt  to  compress  everything  into  a  system  has 
led  to  many  text-books  which  are  but  brief  sum- 
maries of  sciences  Uke  zoology,  botany,  and  physics. 
Scientific  classification  is  very  important,  but  the 
attempt  to  make  it  a  leading  aim  in  teaching  children 
is  a  mistake. 

We  may  add  that  nature  study  is  felt  by  all  to 
offer  abundant  scope  to  the  exercise  of  the  aesthetic 
faculty.  There  is  great  variety  of  beauty  and  grace- 
fulness in  natural  forms  in  plant  and  animal;  the 
rich  or  delicate  coloring  of  the  clouds,  of  birds,  of 
insects,  and  of  plants,  gives  constant  pleasure.  Then 
there  are  grand  and  impressive  scenery  and  phenom- 
ena in  nature,  and  melody  and  harmony  in  nature's 
voices. 

These  various  aims  of  science  study  are  valuable 
to  the  teacher  as  showing  him  the  scope  of  his  work ; 
but  a  higher  and  more  comprehensive  standpoint  has 
been  reached.  We  now  realize  that  the  great  pur- 
pose of  this  study  is  insight   into   nature,  into  this 


$6  THE  ELEMENTS  OF   GENERAL   METHOD 

whole  physical  environment,  with  a  view  to  a  better 
ap'preciation  of  her  objects,  forces,  and  laws,  and  of 
their  bearing  on  human  life  and  progress. 

All  these  purposes  thos  far  developed  in  schools 
are  to  be  considered  as  valuable  subsidiary  aims, 
leading  up  to  the  central  purpose  of  the  study  of 
natural  sciences,  which  is  "An  understanding  of  life, 
and  of  the  powers  and  of  the  unity  which  express 
themselves  in  nature  "  ;  or,  as  Kraepelin  says,  — 

"  Nature  should  not  appear  to  man  as  an  inextrica- 
ble chaos,  but  as  a  well-ordered  mechanism,  the  parts 
fitting  exactly  to  each  other,  controlled  by  unchang- 
ing laws,  and  in  perpetual  action  and  production." 

Humboldt  is  further  quoted  :  — 

"  Nature  to  the  mature  mind  is  unity  in  variety, 
unitf  of  the  manifold  in  form  and  combination,  the 
content  or  sum  total  of  natural  things  and  natural 
forces  as  a  living  whole.  The  weightiest  result, 
therefore,  of  deep  physical  study  is,  by  beginning 
with  the  individual,  to  grasp  all  that  the  discoveries 
of  recent  times  reveal  to  us,  to  separate  single  things 
critically  and  yet  not  be  overcome  by  the  mass  of 
details>  mindful  of  the  high  destiny  of  man,  to  com- 
prehend the  mind  of  nature,  which  lies  concealed 
under  the  mantle  of  phenomena." 

This  sounds  visionary  and  impracticable  for  chil- 
dren of  the  common  schools,  especially  when  we 
know  that  much  lower  aims  have  not  been  success- 
fully reached.     In   fact  it  cannot  be  said  that  the 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  57 

natural  sciences  have  any  recognized  standing  in  the 
common  school  course.  But  it  is  worth  the  while 
to  inquire  whether  natural  sciences  will  ever  be 
taught  as  they  should  be  until  the  best  attainable 
aims  become  the  dominant  principles  for  guiding 
teachers.  Stripped  of  its  rhetoric,  the  above- 
mentioned  aim,  "  an  understanding  of  life  and  of 
the  unity  of  nature,"  may  prove  a  practical  and 
inspiring  guide  to  the  teacher. 

If  we  look  upon  nature  as  a  field  of  observation 
and  study  which  can  be  grasped  as  a  whole,  both 
as  a  work  of  creation  and  as  contributing  in  multi- 
plied ways  to  man's  needs,  its  proper  study  gives 
a  many-sided  culture  to  the  mind.  This  leading 
purpose  will  bring  into  relation  and  unity  all  the 
subordinate  aims  of  science  teaching,  such  as  in- 
formation, utiUty,  training  of  the  senses  and  judg- 
ment and  of  the  power  to  compare  and  classify. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  purpose  of 
gaining  insight  into  nature's  many-sided  activities, 
there  are  several  simple  means  not  yet  mentioned. 
Running  through  nature  are  great  principles  and 
laws  which  can  be  studied  upon  concrete  examples, 
plain  and  interesting  to  a  child.  The  study  of  the 
squirrel  as  to  its  home,  habits,  organs,  and  natural 
activities  in  the  woods,  will  show  how  strangely 
adapted  it  is  to  its  surroundings.  But  an  observa- 
tion of  the  birds  in  the  air  and  fishes  in  the  water 
reveals    the    same    curious    fitness    to    surrounding 


58     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

nature.  The  study  of  plants  and  animals  in  their 
adaptation  to  environment,  of  the  relation  between 
organ  and  function,  between  organs,  mode  of  life, 
and  environment,  leads  up  to  a  general  law  which 
applies  to  all  plants  and  animals.  The  law  of  growth 
and  development,  from  the  simple  germ  to  the  mature 
life-form,  can  be  seen  in  the  butterfly,  the  frog,  and 
the  sunflower.  These  laws  and  others  in  biology,  if 
developed  on  concrete  specimens,  give  much  insight 
into  the  whole  realm  of  nature,  more  stimulating  by 
far  than  that  based  on  scientific  classifications,  as 
orders,  families,  and  species.  The  great  and  simple 
outlines  of  nature's  work  begin  to  appear  out  of  such 
laws. 

Again,  the  study  of  the  whole  life-history  of  a  plant 
or  animal,  in  its  relations  to  the  inorganic  world  and 
to  other  plants  and  animals,  is  always  a  cross-section 
in  the  sciences  and  shows  how  all  the  natural  sciences 
are  knit  together  into  a  causal  unity.  Take  the  life- 
history  of  a  hickory  tree,  —  as  it  germinates  and 
grows  from  the  seed,  how  it  draws  from  the  earth 
and  air ;  the  effect  of  storms,  seasons,  and  lightning 
upon  it ;  how  it  later  furnishes  huts  to  the  squirrels 
and  boys ;  its  branches  may  be  the  nesting-place  for 
birds  and  its  bark  for  insects ;  finally,  the  uses  of  its 
tough  wood  for  man  are  seen.  The  life  of  a  squirrel 
or  of  a  honey-bee  furnishes  also  a  cross-section 
through  all  the  sciences  from  the  inorganic  world 
up  to  man. 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  $9 

If  in  tracing  life-histories  we  take  care  to  select 
typical  subjects  which  exemplify,  perhaps,  thousands 
of  similar  cases,  we  shall  materially  shorten  the  road 
leading  toward  insight  into  nature.  These  types 
are  concrete,  and  have  all  the  interest  and  attrac- 
tiveness of  individual  life,  but  they  also  bring  out 
characteristics  which  explain  myriads  of  similar  phe- 
nomena. A  careful  and  detailed  study  of  a  single  tree 
like  the  maple,  with  the  circulation  of  the  sap  and 
the  function  of  roots,  bark,  leaves,  and  woody  fibre, 
will  give  an  insight  into  the  processes  of  growth 
upon  which  the  life  of  the  tree  depends,  and  these 
processes  will  easily  appear  to  be  true  of  all  tree  and 
plant  forms. 

In  nature  as  it  shows  itself  in  the  woods  or  in  the 
pond,  there  is  such  a  mingling  and  interdependence 
of  the  natural  sciences  upon  each  other  that  the 
book  of  nature  seems  totally  different  from  books 
of  botany,  physics,  and  zoology  as  made  by  men. 
In  the  forest  we  find  close  together  trees  of  many 
kinds,  shrubs,  flowering  plants,  vines,  mosses,  and 
ferns;  grasses,  beetles,  worms  and  birds,  squirrels, 
owls,  and  sunshine,  rocks,  soil,  and  springs,  summer 
and  winter,  storms,  frosts,  and  drouth.  Plants  depend 
upon  the  soil  and  upon  each  other.  The  birds  and 
squirrels  find  their  home  and  food  among  the  trees 
and  plants.  The  trees  seem  to  grow  together  as  if 
they  needed  each  others*  companionship.  All  the 
plants  and  animals  depend  upon   the  soil,  air,  and 


60  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

climate,  and  the  whole  wood  changes  its  garb  and 
partly  its  guests  with  the  seasons.  A  forest  is  a 
life  society,  consisting  of  mutually  dependent  parts. 
How  nature  disregards  our  conventional  distinc- 
tions between  the  natural  sciences  !  We  need  no 
better  proof  than  this,  that  they  should  not  be  taught 
chiefly  from  books.  A  child  might  learn  a  myriad 
of  things  in  the  woods,  and  gain  much  insight  into 
nature's  ways,  without  making  any  clear  distinction 
between  botany,  zoology,  and  geology.  Herein  is 
also  the  proof  that  text-books  are  needed  as  a  guide 
in  nature's  labyrinth.  If  the  frequency  and  inti- 
macy of  mutual  relations  are  any  proof  of  unity,  the 
natural  sciences  are  a  unit  and  have  a  right  to  be 
called  by  one  name,  nature  study. 

In  the  study  of  laws,  life-histories,  and  life-groups, 
the  causal  relations  in  nature  are  found  to  be  wonder- 
fully stimulating  to  those  who  have  begun  to  trace 
them  out.  The  child  as  well  as  the  mature  scientist 
finds  in  these  causal  connections  materials  of  absorb- 
ing interest. 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  the  lines  tending  toward 
unity  in  nature  study  are  numerous  and  strong,  such 
as  the  scientific  classifications  of  our  text-books,  the 
working  out  of  general  laws  whether  in  biology  or  in 
physical  science,  the  study  of  life-histories  in  vegeta- 
ble and  animal,  and  the  observation  of  life  societies 
in  the  close  mutual  relations  of  the  different  parts  or 
individuals. 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  6 1 

If  a  course  of  nature  studies  is  begun  in  the  first 
grade  and  carried  systematically  through  all  the  years 
up  to  the  eighth  grade,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  real  insight  into  nature,  based  on  observation 
taken  at  first  hand,  may  be  reached  ?  It  will  involve 
a  study  of  living  plants  and  animals,  minerals,  physi- 
cal apparatus  and  devices,  chemical  experiments,  the 
making  of  collections,  regular  excursions  for  the 
observation  of  the  neighboring  fields,  forests,  and 
streams,  and  the  working  over  of  these  and  other 
concrete  experiences  from  all  sources  through  skilful 
class  teaching. 

The  first  great  result  to  a  child  of  such  a  series  of  i 
studies  is  an  intelligent  and  rational  understanding  of  / 
his  home,  the  world,  his  natural  environment.     He 
will  have  a  seeing  eye  and  an  appreciative  mind  for 
the  thousand  things  surrounding  his  daily  life,  where 
the  ignorant  toiler  sees  but  understands  nothing. 

A  second  advantage  which  we  can  only  hint  at, 
while  incidental,  is  almost  equally  important.  We 
have  been  considering  nature  chiefly  as  a  realm  by 
itself,  apart  from  men.  But  the  utilities  of  natural 
science  in  individual  life  and  in  society  are  so  manifold 
that  we  accept  many  of  the  finest  products  of  skill 
and  art  as  if  they  were  natural  products  —  as  if  gold 
coins,  silk  dresses,  and  fine  pictures  grew  on  the 
bushes  and  only  waited  to  be  picked.  The  thousand- 
fold applications  of  natural  science  to  human  industry 
and  comfort  deserve  to  be  perceived  as  the  result  of 


62  THE  ELEMENTS   OF   GENERAL  METHOD 

labor  and  inventive  skill.  Our  much  lauded  steam 
engines,  telegraphs,  microscopes,  sewing  machines, 
reapers,  iron  ships,  and  printing  presses  are  examples, 
not  of  a  few,  but  of  myriads  of  things  that  natural 
science  has  secured.  But  how  many  children  on 
leaving  the  common  school  understand  the  principle 
involved  in  any  one  of  the  machines  mentioned,  sub- 
jects of  common  talk  as  they  are  .?  As  children  leave 
the  schools  at  fourteen  or  fifteen,  they  should  know 
and  appreciate  many  such  things,  wherein  man,  by 
his  wit  and  ingenious  use  of  nature's  forces,  has 
triumphed  over  difficulties.  How  are  glass  and  soap 
made }  What  has  a  knowledge  of  natural  science  to 
do  with  the  construction  of  stoves,  furnaces,  and 
lamps }  How  are  iron,  silver,  and  copper  ore  mined 
and  reduced  .'*  How  is  sugar  obtained  from  maple 
trees,  cane,  and  beet  roots  ?  How  does  a  suction 
pump  work,  and  why  ?  Without  a  knowledge  of  such 
applications  of  natural  science  we  should  be  thrown 
back  into  barbarism.  These  things  also,  since  they 
form  such  an  important  part  of  every  child's  environ- 
ment, should  be  understood,  but  not  simply  for  direct 
utiUty. 

Historically  considered,  the  study  of  natural  science 
is  the  study  of  man's  long-continued  struggle  with 
nature  and  of  his  gradual  triumph.  It  ends  with  in- 
sight into  nature  and  into  those  contrivances  of  men 
by  which  her  laws  and  forces  are  utilized.  The  whole 
subject  of  nature,  her  laws  and  powers,  must   not 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  63 

remain  a  sealed  book  to  the  masses  of  the  people. 
Scientists,  inventors,  and  scholars  may  lead  the  way, 
but  they  are  only  pioneers.  The  thousands  of  the 
children  of  the  people  are  treading  at  their  heels  and 
must  be  initiated  into  the  mysteries. 

Our  knowledge  of  these  principles  and  appliances 
constitute,  in  fact,  a  good  share  of  the  foundation  upon 
which  our  whole  culture  status  rests.  Without  nat- 
ural science  we  should  understand  neither  nature  nor 
society.  Spencer,  in  "  Education,"  pp.  44-54,  shows 
the  wide-reaching  value  of  science  knowledge  in  our 
modern  life :  — 

"  For  leaving  out  only  some  very  small  classes, 
what  are  all  men  employed  in  ?  They  are  employed 
in  production,  preparation,  and  distribution  of  com- 
modities. And  on  what  does  efficiency  in  the  pro- 
duction, preparation,  and  distribution  of  commodities 
depend  ?  It  depends  on  the  use  of  methods  fitted  to 
the  respective  nature  of  these  commodities ;  it  depends 
on  an  adequate  knowledge  of  their  physical,  chemical, 
or  vital  properties,  as  the  case  may  be;  that  is,  it 
depends  on  science.  This  order  of  knowledge,  which 
is  in  great  part  ignored  in  our  school  courses,  is  the 
order  of  knowledge  underlying  the  right  performance 
of  all  those  processes  by  which  civilized  life  is  made 
possible.  Undeniable  as  is  this  truth,  and  thrust 
upon  us  as  it  is  at  every  turn,  there  seems  to  be  no 
living  consciousness  of  it.  Its  very  familiarity  makes 
it  unregarded.     To  give  due  weight  to  our  argument, 


64  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

we  must  therefore  realize  this  truth  to  the  reader  by 
a  rapid  review  of  the  facts." 

He  then  illustrates,  in  interesting  detail,  the  varied 
applications  of  mathematics,  physics,  chemistry, 
biology,  and  social  science  to  the  industries  and  econ- 
omies of  life,  and  concludes  as  follows  :  — 

"  That  which  our  school  courses  leave  almost  en- 
tirely out  we  thus  find  to  be  that  which  most  nearly 
concerns  the  business  of  life.  All  our  industries 
would  cease,  were  it  not  for  that  information  which 
men  begin  to  acquire  as  they  best  may  after  their 
education  is  said  to  be  finished.  And  were  it  not 
for  this  information  that  has  been  from  age  to  age 
accumulated  and  spread  by  unofficial  means,  these 
industries  would  never  have  existed.  Had  there  been 
no  teaching  but  such  as  is  given  in  our  public  schools, 
England  would  now  be  what  it  was  in  feudal  times. 
That  increasing  acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  na- 
ture which  has  through  successive  ages  enabled  us 
to  subjugate  nature  to  our  needs,  and  in  these  days 
gives  to  the  common  laborer  comforts  which  a  few 
centuries  ago  kings  could  not  purchase,  is  scarcely  in 
any  degree  owed  to  the  appointed  means  of  instruct- 
ing our  youth.  The  vital  knowledge — that  by  which 
we  have  grown  as  a  nation  to  what  we  are,  and  which 
now  underlies  our  whole  existence  —  is  a  knowledge 
that  has  got  itself  taught  in  nooks  and  corners,  while 
the  ordained  agencies  for  teaching  have  been  mum- 
bling little  else  but  dead  formulas." 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUD 


Not  only  the  specialists  in  natural  science,  whose 
interest  and  enthusiasm  are  largely  absorbed  in  these 
studies,  but  many  other  energetic  teachers,  are  per- 
suaded that  the  culture  value  of  nature  studies  is  on 
a  par  with  that  of  historical  studies.  But  on  account 
of  the  present  lack  of  system  and  of  clear  purpose  in 
natural  science  teachers,  the  first  great  problem  in 
this  field  of  common  school  effort  is  to  select  the 
material  and  perfect  the  method  of  studying  nature 
with  children. 

Our  estimate  of  the  value  of  natural  science  for 
culture  and  for  discipline  is  confirmed  by  the  opinion 
of  educational  reformers  and  by  the  changes  and 
progress  in  schools.  An  inquiry  into  the  history  of 
education  in  Europe  and  in  America  since  the  Refor- 
mation will  show  that  the  movement  toward  nature 
study  has  been  accumulating  momentum  for  more 
than  three  hundred  years.  In  spite  of  the  failure  of 
such  men  as  Comenius,  Ratich,  Basedow,  and  Rous- 
seau to  secure  the  introduction  of  these  studies  in  a 
liberal  degree,  in  spite  of  the  enormous  influence  of 
custom  and  prejudice  in  favor  of  Latin  and  other 
traditional  studies,  the  natural  sciences  have  made 
recently  such  surprising  advances,  and  have  so  pene- 
trated and  transformed  our  modern  life,  that  we  are 
simply  compelled,  even  in  the  common  school,  to  take 
heed  of  these  great  living  educational  forces  already 
at  work. 

The   universities  of    England  and  of  the  United 


66  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   MEl^HOD 

States  have  been  largely  transformed  within  the  last 
forty  years  by  the  introduction,  on  a  grand  scale,  of 
modern  studies,  particularly  of  the  natural  sciences. 
The  fitting  schools,  academies,  and  high  schools  have 
had  no  choice  but  to  follow  this  lead.  Since  the 
forces  that  produced  this  result  in  higher  education 
sprang  up  largely  outside  of  our  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, the  movement  is  not  likely  to  cease  till  the  com- 
mon school  has  been  changed  in  the  same  way.  The 
educational  question  of  the  future  is  not  whether 
historical  or  natural  science  or  formal  studies  are  to 
monopolize  the  school  course,  but  rather  how  these 
three  indispensable  elements  of  every  child's  educa- 
tion may  be  best  harmonized  and  wrought  into  a 
unit. 

But  the  question  that  confronts  us  at  every  turn  is, 
What  is  the  disciplinary  value  of  nature  study  ?  We 
know,  say  the  opponents,  what  a  vigorous  training 
in  languages  and  mathematics  can  do  for  a  student. 
What  results  in  this  direction  can  the  natural  sciences 
tabulate.?  The  champions  of  natural  science  point 
with  pride  to  the  great  men  who  have  been  trained 
and  developed  in  such  studies.  For  inductive  think- 
ing the  natural  sciences  offer  the  best  materials.  To 
cultivate  self-reliance  there  is  nothing  like  turning  a 
student  loose  in  nature  under  a  skilled  instructor. 
The  spirit  of  investigation  and  of  accurate  thinking 
is  claimed  as  a  peculiar  product  of  nature  study. 
It  is  called,  par  excellence,    "the   scientific  spirit." 


RELATIVE  VALUE   OF  STUDIES  ^J 

The  undue  reverence  for  authority  produced  by  liter- 
ary studies  is  not  a  weakness  of  natural  science  pur- 
suits. But  intense  interest  and  devotion  are  combined 
with  scientific  accuracy  and  fidelity  to  nature  and  her 
laws. 

We  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  attempt  a  settlement 
of  this  dispute.  We  have  already  assumed  that  his- 
tory in  the  broad  sense  (including  languages)  and  nat- 
ural science  (or  nature  study)  are  the  two  great  staples 
of  the  common  school  course,  and  that  so  far  as  dis- 
cipline is  concerned  one  is  as  important  as  the  other. 
But  we  believe  that  those  educators  whose  first, 
middle,  and  last  question  is,  "  What  is  the  disciplinary 
value  of  a  study }  "  have  mistaken  the  primary  prob- 
lem of  education.  Just  as  in  the  proper  training  of 
the  body,  the  strength  and  skill  of  a  professional 
athlete  are,  in  no  sense,  the  true  aim,  but  physical 
soundness,  health,  and  vigor,  so  in  mind  culture,  not 
extraordinary  skill  in  mental  gymnastics  of  the  sever- 
est sort  is  the  essential  aim,  but  mental  soundness, 
integrity,  and  motive.  The  underlying  question  in 
education  is  not.  How  strong  or  incisive  is  his  mind } 
(this  depends  largely  upon  heredity  and  native  en- 
dowment) but.  What  is  its  quality  and  its  temper } 
If  might  is  right,  then  mental  strength  is  to  be  gained 
at  all  hazards.  But  if  right  is  higher  than  might, 
then  mental  skill  and  power  are  only  secondary  aims. 
So  long  as  we  are  dealing  with  fundamental  aims  in 
such  a  serious  business  as  education,  why  stop  short 


6S  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

of  that  ideal  which  is  manifestly  the  best  ?  We  have 
no  controversy  with  the  highest  mental  discipline  and 
strength  that  are  consistent  with  all-round  mental 
soundness.  Our  better  teachers  are  not  lacking  in 
f  appreciation  for  the  value  of  what  is  called  formal 
mental  discipline,  but  they  do  generally  lack  faith  in 
the  innate  power  of  the  best  studies  to  arouse  interest 
and  mental  life.  They  emphasize  the  drill  more  than 
the  content  and  inspiration  of  the  author.  Both  in 
theory  and  in  practice  they  are  greatly  lacking  in  the 
intellectual  sympathy  and  moral  power  which  result 
from  bringing  the  minds  of  students  into  direct  con- 
tact with  the  noblest  products  of  God's  work  in  his- 
tory and  in  the  object  world.  Here  we  can  put  our 
finger  on  the  radical  weakness  of  our  school  work. 

The  really  soul-inspiring  teachers  have  not  been 
formaUsts  nor  drill-masters  alone.  Friedrich  August 
Wolf,  for  example,  the  great  German  philologist,  was 
probably  the  most  inspiring  teacher  of  classical  lan- 
guages that  Germany  has  had.  But  to  what  was  his 
remarkable  influence  as  a  teacher  of  young  men  due  } 
We  usually  think  of  a  philologist  as  one  who  digs 
among  the  roots  of  dead  languages,  who  worships 
the  forms  of  speech  and  the  laws  of  grammar. 
Doubtless  he  and  his  pupils  were  much  taken  up 
with  these  things,  but  they  were  not  the  prime 
sources  of  his  and  their  interest.  Wolf  defined  phi- 
lology as  "  the  knowledge  of  human  nature  as  exhi- 
bited in  antiquity."     He  studied  with  great  avidity 


RELATIVE   VALUE  OF  STUDIES  69 

everything  that  could  throw  light  upon  the  lives,  char- 
acter, and  language  of  the  ancients,  their  biographies, 
histories,  geography,  climate,  dress,  implements,  their 
sculpture,  monuments,  buildings,  and  tombs.  Ap- 
proaching the  literature  and  language  of  the  Greeks 
with  this  abundant  knowledge  of  their  real  surround- 
ings and  conditions  of  life,  he  saw  the  deeper,  fuller 
significance  of  every  classical  author,  and  the  great 
literary  masterpieces  were  perceived  as  the  expression 
of  the  national  life.  He  appreciated  language  as  the 
wonderful  medium  through  which  the  more  wonder- 
ful life  of  the  versatile  Greek  expressed  itself.  The 
reason  he  was  such  a  great  philologist  was  because 
he  was  so  great  a  realist,  a  man  who  was  intensely 
interested  in  the  Greek  people,  their  history  and  life. 
Words  alone  had  little  charm  for  him.  No  great 
teacher  has  been  simply  a  word-monger. 

For  the  present  we  leave  the  question  of  discipline 
unanswered,  though  we  are  disposed  to  think  that 
those  studies  which  introduce  children  to  the  two  great 
fields  of  real  knowledge,  and  which  arouse  a  strong 
desire  to  solve  the  problems  found  there,  will  also 
furnish  the  most  valuable  discipline. 

The  formal  studies,  such  as  reading,  spelling,  writ- 
ing, language,  and  much  of  arithmetic,  have  thus  far 
appropriated  the  best  share  of  school-time.  They  are 
the  tools  for  acquiring  and  formulating  knowledge 
rather  than  knowledge  itself.  They  are  so  indispen- 
sable in   life   that   people   have   acquired  a  sort   of 


70     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

superstitious  respect  for  them.  They  are  generally 
considered  as  of  primary  importance  while  other 
things  are  taken  as  secondary.  By  virtue  of  this 
excessive  estimation  the  formal  studies  have  become 
so  strongly  intrenched  in  the  practice  of  the  schools 
that  they  are  really  a  heavy  obstacle  to  educational 
progress.  They  have  been  so  long  regarded  as  the 
only  gateway  to  knowledge  that  any  one  who  tries  to 
climb  in  some  other  way  is  regarded  as  a  thief  and  a 
robber.  We  forget  that  Homer's  great  poems  were 
composed  and  preserved  for  centuries  before  letters 
were  invented. 

As  more  thought  is  expended  on  studies  and 
methods  of  learning,  the  more  the  thinkers  are  in- 
clined to  exactly  reverse  the  educational  machinery. 
They  say,  "  Thought  studies  must  precede  form 
studies."  We  should  everywhere  begin  with  valuable 
and  interesting  thought  materials  in  history  and 
natural  science  and  let  language,  reading,  speUing, 
and  drawing  follow.  It  is  a  thing  much  more  easily 
said  than  done,  but  many  active  teachers  are  really 
doing  it,  and  many  others  are  wondering  how  it  may 
be  done.  The  advantage  of  putting  the  concrete 
realities  of  thought  before  children  at  first  is  that 
they  give  a  powerful  impetus  to  mental  life,  while 
pure  formal  studies  in  most  cases  have  a  deadening 
effect  and  gradually  put  a  child  to  sleep.  One  of 
the  great  problems  of  school  work  is  how  to  get  more 
interest  and  instructive  thought  into  school  exercises. 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  71 

This  inversion  of  the  old  order  so  that  the  content 
studies  are  put  foremost  and  the  formal  or  symbolic 
studies  into  a  secondary  r61e,  suggests  that  incidental 
acquisition  of  symbols  which  has  been  urged  so  much 
of  late  by  progressive  teachers.  It  is  well  known 
that  children  will  greatly  increase  their  mastery  of  a 
reading  vocabulary  by  voluntarily  reading  stories  or 
books  which  they  enjoy.  In  such  cases  the  children 
are  not  consciously  trying  to  master  the  symbols  and 
vocabularies ;  but  this  result  is  attained  incidentally, 
as  a  natural  by-product  of  a  healthy,  energetic  interest. 
This  hint  has  led  teachers  throughout  the  grades  to 
put  more  interesting  and  valuable  rea.ding  matter, 
suited  to  the  age,  in  each  grade,  so  that  children  may 
master  the  formal  difficulties  with  greater  spontaneous 
energy  and  ease.  The  doctrine  of  incidental  teach- 
ing has  gained  such  foothold,  that  it  has  led,  in  some 
schools,  to  the  extinction  of  certain  studies,  like  lan- 
guage, drawing,  and  arithmetic,  as  independent  studies 
in  some  of  the  grades.  But  this  will  be  treated  more 
fully  under  the  subject  "  Correlation  of  Studies." 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  give  a  concluding  esti- 
mate upon  the  relative  value  of  these  three  elements 
in  school  education.  History  contributes  the  mate- 
rials from  which  motives  and  moral  impulses  spring. 
It  cultivates  and  strengthens  moral  convictions  by  the 
use  of  inspiring  examples.  The  character  of  each 
child  should  be  drawn  into  harmony  with  the  highest 
impulses  that  men  have  felt.     A  desire  to  be  the 


/ 


72  THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

author  of  good  to  others  should  be  developed  into  a 
practical  ruling  motive.  Natural  science,  on  the  other 
hand,  supplies  a  knowledge  of  the  ordinary  means 
and  apphances  by  which  the  purposes  of  life  are 
realized.  It  gives  us  proper  insight  into  the  con- 
ditions of  life  and  puts  us  into  intelligent  relation  to 
our  environment.  Not  only  must  a  child  be  supplied 
with  the  necessaries  of  life,  but  he  must  appreciate 
the  needs  of  health  and  understand  the  economies  of 
society,  such  as  the  necessity  of  mental  and  manual 
labor,  the  right  use  of  the  products  and  forces  of 
nature,  and  the  advantage  of  man's  inventions  and  de- 
vices. In  a  plan  of  popular  education  these  two  culture 
elements  should  mingle  (history  and  natural  science). 
In  the  case  of  all  sorts  of  people  in  society  the  ability 
to  execute  high  moral  purposes  depends  largely  upon 
a  ready,  practical  insight  into  natural  conditions.  We 
are  not  thinking  of  the  bread-and-butter  phase  of  life 
and  of  the  aid  afforded  by  the  sciences  in  making 
a  living,  but  of  the  all-round,  practical  utility  of 
natural  science  as  a  necessary  supplement  to  moral 
training. 

One  of  the  best  tests  of  a  system  of  education  is 
the  preparation  it  gives  for  life  in  a  liberal  sense. 
When  a  child,  leaving  school  behind,  develops  into  a 
citizen,  what  tests  are  applied  to  him  ?  The  questions 
submitted  to  his  judgment  in  his  relations  to  the 
family  and  to  society  call  for  a  quick  and  varied 
knowledge  of  men,  insight  into  character,  and  for  a 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  STUDIES  73 

large  amount  of  practical  information  of  natural 
science.  He  is  asked  to  vote  intelligently  on  social, 
political,  sanitary,  and  economic  questions ;  to  judge 
of  men's  motives,  opinions,  and  character ;  to  vote 
upon  or  perhaps  direct  the  management  of  poor- 
houses,  asylums,  and  penitentiaries ;  in  towns  to  decide 
questions  of  drainage,  police,  water  supply,  public 
health,  and  school  administration  ;  to  make  contracts 
for  public  buildings  and  bridges ;  to  grant  licenses  and 
franchises;  to  serve  on  juries  or  as  representatives  of 
the  people.  These  are  not  professional  matters  alone; 
they  are  the  common  duties  of  all  citizens  of  a  sound 
mind.  These  things  each  person  should  know  how 
to  judge,  whether  he  be  a  blacksmith,  a  merchant,  or 
a  housekeeper.  In  all  such  matters  he  must  be  not 
only  a  judge  of  others  but  an  actor  under  the  guidance 
of  right  motives  and  information.  Again,  in  the 
bringing  up  of  children,  in  the  domestic  arrange- 
ments of  every  home,  and  in  a  proper  care  for  the 
minds  and  bodies  of  both  parents  and  children, 
a  multitude  of  practical  problems  from  each  of  the 
great  fields  of  real  knowledge  must  be  met  and 
solved. 

A  medical  missionary  illustrates  this  combination 
of  historical  and  natural  science  elements.  His  life 
purpose  is  drawn  from  history,  from  the  life  of 
Christ,  and  from  the  traditional  incentives  of  the 
Church.  The  means  by  which  he  is  to  make  him- 
self practically  felt  are  obtained  from  his  study  of 


74     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

medicine  and  from  the  sciences  upon  which  it 
depends.  These  elements  form  the  basis  of  his  in- 
fluence. This  illustration,  however,  savors  of  pro- 
fessional rather  than  of  general  education,  and  we 
are  concerned  only  with  the  latter.  But  the  edu- 
cation of  every  child  is  analogous  to  that  of  the 
medical  missionary  in  its  two  constituent  elements. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  neither  history  nor  natural 
science  occupies  any  such  prominence  in  the  school 
course  as  we  have  judged  fitting.  Much  thoughtful 
study,  experience  in  teaching,  and  pioneer  labor  in 
partially  new  fields  will  be  necessary  in  order  to 
bring  into  existence  such  a  course  of  study  based 
upon  the  best  materials.  Many  teachers  already 
recognize  the  necessity  for  it,  and  see  before  them 
a  land  of  plenty  as  compared  with  the  half-desert 
barrenness  revealed  in  our  present  school  course. 

Two  powerful  convictions  in  the  minds  of  those 
responsible  for  education  have  contributed  to  pro- 
duce this  desert-like  condition  in  children's  school 
employments,  and  this  brings  us  to  a  discussion  of 
the  overestimation  in  which  purely  formal  studies 
are  held.  The  first  article  of  faith  rests  upon  the 
unshaken  belief  in  the  practical  studies,  —  reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic.  They  are  still  looked  upon 
as  a  barrier  that  must  be  scaled  before  the  real  work 
of  education  can  begin.  Learn  to  read,  write,  and 
figure,  and  then  the  world  of  knowledge  as  well  as  of 
business  is  at  your  command.      But   many  children 


f  UN 


OF     <  HP 

UNIVERSITY 

F 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF  STUDIES^f J.  IFOtt^l 

find  the  barrier  so  difficult  to  scale  that  they  really 
never  get  into  the  fields  of  knowledge.  Many  of  our 
most  thoroughgoing  educators  still  firmly  believe 
that  a  child  cannot  learn  anything  worth  mention- 
ing till  he  has  first  learned  to  read.  But  however 
deeply  rooted  this  confidence  in  the  purely  formal 
work  of  the  early  school  years  may  be,  it  must  break 
down  as  soon  as  means  are  devised  for  putting  the 
realities  of  interesting  knowledge  before  and  under- 
neath all  the  forms  of  expression.  Let  the  necessity 
for  expression  spring  from  the  real  objects  of  study. 
Those  children  to  whom  the  memorizing  and  drill 
upon  forms  of  expression  become  tedious,  deserve 
our  sympathy.  There  is  a  kind  of  knowledge 
adapted  to  arouse  these  dull  ones  to  their  full 
capacity  of  interest.  ''  Or  what  man  is  there  of 
you,  whom  if  his  son  ask  bread,  will  he  give  him  a 
stone  .-*  "  With  many  a  child  the  first  reader,  the 
arithmetic,  or  the  grammar  becomes  a  veritable 
stone.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  the  sole  bur- 
den of  work  in  early  school  grades  should  rest  upon 
the  learning  of  the  pure  formalities  of  knowledge. 
Children's  minds  are  not  adapted  to  an  exclusive 
diet  of  this  kind.  The  fact  that  children  have  good 
memories  is  no  reason  why  their  minds  should  be 
gorged  with  the  driest  memory  materials.  They 
have  a  healthy  interest  in  people,  whether  in  life  or 
in  story,  and  in  the  objects  in  nature  around  them. 
What   is   thus   preeminently   true    of    the    primary 


^6  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

grades  is  true  to  a  large  extent  throughout  all  the 
grades  of  the  common  school.  It  seems  almost 
curious  that  the  more  tender  the  plants,  the  more 
barren  and  inhospitable  the  soil  upon  which  they  are 
expected  to  grow.  Fortunately  these  little  ones 
have  such  an  exuberance  of  life  that  it  is  not  easily 
quenched.  Formal  knowledge  stands  first  in  our 
common  school  course,  and  real  studies  are  allowed 
to  pick  up  such  crumbs  of  comfort  as  may  chance  to 
fall.  We  believe  in  formal  studies  and  in  their 
complete  mastery  in  the  common  school,  but  they 
should  stand  in  the  place  of  service  to  real  studies. 
How  powerful  the  tendency  has  been,  and  still  is, 
toward  pure  formal  drill  and  word-memory,  is  ap- 
parent from  the  fact  that  even  geography  and 
history,  which  are  not  at  all  formal  studies,  but  full 
to  overflowing  with  interesting  facts  and  laws,  have 
been  reduced  to  a  dry  memorizing  of  words,  phrases, 
and  stereotyped  sentences. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  why  the  numerous 
body  of  teachers,  who  easily  drift  into  mechanical 
methods,  has  a  preference  for  formal  studies.  They 
are  comparatively  easy  and  humdrum  and  keep 
pupils  busy.  Real  studies,  if  taught  with  any  sort 
of  fitness,  require  energy,  interest,  and  versatility, 
besides  much  outside  work  in  preparing  material. 

The  second  article  of  faith  is  a  still  stronger  one. 
The  better  class  of  energetic  teachers  would  never 
have   been   won   over  to   formal   studies  on  purely 


RELATIVE  VALUE   OF   STUDIES  77 

Utilitarian  grounds.  A  second  conviction  weighs 
heavily  in  their  minds.  "The  discipline  of  the 
mental  faculties "  is  a  talisman  of  unusual  potency 
with  them.  They  prize  arithmetic  and  grammar 
more  for  this  than  for  any  direct  practical  value. 
The  idea  of  mental  discipline,  of  training  the 
faculties,  is  so  grained  into  all  our  educational 
thinking  that  it  crops  out  in  a  hundred  ways  and 
holds  our  courses  of  study  in  the  beaten  track  of 
formal  training  with  a  steadiness  that  is  astonishing. 
These  friends  believe  that  we  are  taking  the  back- 
bone out  of  education  by  making  it  interesting.  The 
culmination  of  this  educational  doctrine  is  reached 
when  it  is  said  that  the  most  valuable  thing  learned 
in  school  or  out  of  it,  is  to  do  and  do  vigorously  that 
which  is  most  disagreeable.  The  training  of  the 
will  to  meet  difficulties  unflinchingly  is  their  aim, 
and  it  is  a  laudable  one.  These  stalwart  apostles  of 
educational  hardship  and  difficulty  are  in  constant 
fear  lest  we  shall  make  studies  interesting  and  at- 
tractive and  thus  undermine  the  energy  of  the  will. 
But  the  question  at  once  arises :  Does  not  the  will 
always  act  from  motives  of  some  sort.-*  And  is 
there  any  motive  or  incentive  so  stimulating  to  the 
will  as  a  steady  and  constantly  increasing  interest  in 
studies  ?  It  is  able  to  meet  and  to  surmount  great 
difficulties. 

We  wish  to  assure  our   stalwart   friends   that  we 
still  adhere  to  the  good  old  doctrine  that  "  There  is  no 


y8  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

royal  road  to  learning."  There  is  no  way  of  putting 
aside  the  real  difficulties  that  are  found  in  every 
study,  no  way  of  grading  up  the  valleys  and  tunnel- 
ling through  the  hills  so  as  to  get  the  even  monotony 
of  a  railroad  track  through  the  rough  or  mountainous 
parts  of  education.  Every  child  must  meet  and 
master  the  difficulties  of  learning  for  himself.  There 
are  no  palace  cars  with  reclining  chairs  to  carry  him 
to  the  summit  of  real  difficulties.  The  character- 
developing  power  that  lies  in  the  mastery  of  hard 
tasks  constitutes  one  of  their  chief  merits.  Accept- 
ing this  as  a  fundamental  truth  in  education,  the 
problem  for  our  solution  is,  how  to  stimulate  children 
to  encounter  difficulties.  Many  children  have  little 
inclination  to  sacrifice  their  ease  to  the  cause  of 
learning,  and  our  dull  methods  of  teaching  confirm 
them  in  their  indifference  to  educational  incentives. 
Any  child  who,  like  Hugh  Miller  or  Abraham 
Lincoln,  already  possesses  an  insatiable  thirst  for 
knowledge  will  allow  no  difficulties  or  hardships  to 
stand  in  the  way  of  progress.  This  original  appetite 
and  thirst  for  knowledge  which  the  select  few  have 
often  manifested  in  childhood,  is  more  valuable  than 
anything  the  schools  can  give.  With  the  majority  of 
children  we  can  certainly  do  nothing  better  than  to 
nurture  such  a  taste  for  knowledge  into  vigorous  life. 
It  will  not  do  to  assume  that  the  average  of  children 
have  any  such  original  energy  or  momentum  to  lead 
them  to  scale  the  heights  of  even  ordinary  knowledge. 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  79 

Nor  will  it  do  to  rely  too  much  upon  a  forcing  pro- 
cess, that  is,  by  means  of  threats,  severity,  and  disci- 
pline, to  carry  children  against  their  will  toward  the 
educational  goal. 

"  Be  not  like  dumb  driven  cattle, 


is  sound  educational  doctrine. 

The  thing  for  teachers  to  do  is  to  cultivate  in  chil- 
dren all  healthy  appetites  for  knowledge,  to  set  up 
interesting  aims  and  desires  at  every  step,  to  lead  the 
approach  to  different  fields  of  knowledge  in  the  spirit 
of  conquest. 

In  the  business  world  and  in  professional  life  men 
and  women  work  with  abundant  energy  and  will,  be- 
cause they  have  desirable  ends  in  view.  The  hire- 
ling knows  no  such  generous  stimulus.  Business 
life  is  full  of  irksome  and  difficult  tasks,  but  the  aim 
in  view  carries  people  through  them.  We  shall  not 
eliminate  the  disagreeable  and  irksome  from  school 
tasks,  but  try  to  create  in  children  such  a  spirit  and 
ambition  as  will  lead  to  greater  exertions.  To  im- 
plant vigorous  aims  and  incentives  in  children  is  the 
great  privilege  of  the  teacher.  We  shall  some  day 
learn  that  when  a  boy  cracks  a  nut  he  does  so  be- 
cause there  may  be  a  kernel  in  it,  not  because  the 
shell  is  hard. 

There  are  two  important  elements  of  culture, 
which  have  been  working  their  way  into  our  schools 


8o     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

in  recent  years,  suggested  by  the  terms  "manual 
training  "  and  "  art  studies."  They  have  brought  us 
to  the  point  where  we  can  see  two  comprehensive  and 
difficult  problems,  toward  the  solution  of  which  only 
the  beginnings  have  been  made  in  the  common  school. 
Manual  training  has  come  to  include  not  only  the 
shop  work,  but  all  forms  of  industrial  effort,  the  mak- 
ing, moulding,  and  construction  exercises  of  primary 
children,  domestic  science,  and  the  fashioning  of 
materials  into  useful  constructions  in  geography, 
history,  and  physical  science.  This  notion  of  giving 
scope  to  the  motor  and  constructive  activities  of  chil- 
dren has  far  outrun  the  original  meaning  of  manual 
training.  It  has  developed  into  the  conception  of 
reorganizing  the  school  course  around  the  spontane- 
ous activities  of  children,  and  of  turning  these  activi- 
ties into  social  and  industrial  channels. 

From  the  high  school,  manual  training  is  filtering 
down  into  grammar  and  intermediate  grades,  and 
from  the  kindergarten  the  games  and  occupations 
have  ascended  into  primary  rooms,  so  that  manual 
training  or  constructive  work  is  present  in  some  form 
in  all  the  grades.  There  naturally  rises  the  difficult 
problem  for  the  school,  how  to  arrange  these  miscel- 
laneous activities  into  a  connected  and  consistent 
series  throughout  the  school  course.  But  this  is  a 
very  superficial  way  of  stating  the  problem.  The 
growing  conception  of  the  educational  importance  of 
the  outgoing  energies  of  children  threatens  to  trans- 


RELATIVE  VALUE   OF   STUDIES  8 1 

fer  the  centre  of  gravity  from  the  present  studies 
to  the  child,  and  to  demand  a  reorganization  of 
educative  materials  and  activities  around  this  new 
centre. 

This  step  seems  to  be  the  final  one  in  a  long  series 
of  historical  changes  in  education.     Three  hundred 
years  ago   an   almost   pure   verbalism   prevailed   in 
the  schools,  with  no  regard  for  children.      Comenius 
found  that  pictures  were  the  best  available  means,  at 
that  time,  for  putting   more   of   realism   into    Latin 
forms.     With    Basedow  and   Pestalozzi  there  was  a 
further  step  toward   realism  in  object  lessons  as  a 
means  of  interesting  the  child  and  of  concreting  his 
ideas.    In  the  nineteenth  century  the  schools  passed  on 
from  the  mere  observation  of  objects  to  a  handling  and  { 
working  with  objects,  and  even  to  their  construction  I 
in  manual  training.     Now  at  last  we  are  summoned  ^ 
by  some  of  our  foremost  thinkers  to  make  the  finals 
leap  away  from  verbalism,  even  beyond  manual  train-f 
ing  as  an  instrument  of  culture,  into  the  spontaneous* 
energies  and  impulses  of  the  child.     Henceforth,  we 
are  to  survey  the  studies  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
child  and  his   impulses,  and   no    longer   behold  the  | 
child,  at  a  distance,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  stud-  j 
ies.     What   the   outcome  will  be  is  difficult  to  tell.  | 
Whether  the   child   can    hold   his   own    against   the 
world,  and  keep  the  education  on  his  side  or  not,  is 
the  problem. 

The  child,  we  say,  must  be  educated  for  society. 


82     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

but  Colonel  Parker  lived  long  enough  to  convince  us 
that  the  world  must  bow  before  the  child. 

We  are  forced  to  believe  that  the  child,  as  the  prod- 
uct of  the  race  development  up  to  the  present,  by 
the  growth  of  his  inherited  spontaneous  energies,  is 
capable  of  appropriating  the  best  culture  materials  of 
the  race  from  which  he  springs,  and  of  the  society 
into  which  he  is  born.  In  other  words,  society  with 
its  external  demands  can  be  brought  into  harmony 
with  the  child  and  his  internal  needs.  Confidence 
in  this  outcome  is  based  upon  a  belief  in  the  inborn 
kinship  between  the  child  and  society. 

The  value  of  art  studies,  including  music,  drawing, 
painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  and  literature,  is  ob- 
taining more  and  more  recognition.  Not  that  our 
school  programme  is  to  be  loaded  with  additional  art 
studies,  but  the  artistic  sense,  the  appreciation  of  the 
forms  of  art,  and  the  enrichment  of  school  topics  in 
all  studies  by  seeing  them  from  the  artist's  point  of 
view,  will  follow. 

Just  as  the  best  elements  of  history,  science,  and 
literature  are  being  slowly  selected,  as  to  their  fitness, 
and  incorporated  into  the  school  course,  so  the  artis- 
tic products  of  the  best  art  periods  of  the  world  are 
being  selected  and  brought  to  the  attention  of  teach- 
ers and  gradually  absorbed  into  the  life  of  the  school. 
This  has  scarcely  begun,  as  yet,  in  most  of  our  schools, 
but  it  is  easy  to  see  how  important  and  far-reaching 
will  be  the  results.     The  cultivation  of  these  aesthetic 


RELATIVE  VALUE  OF   STUDIES  83 

interests  in  all  the  great  studies  of  the  school  will 
lend  a  deeper  and  more  permanent  enthusiasm  to 
education. 

The  adjustment  of  manual  training  and  art  studies 
to  the  other  studies  will  be  discussed  in  the  chapter 
on  concentration. 

Summary.  —  History,  in  the  liberal  sense,  surveys 
the  field  of  human  life  in  all  its  typical  forms  and 
furnishes  the  best  illustrative  moral  materials.  Na- 
ture study  opens  the  door  to  the  real  world  in  all  its 
beauty,  variety,  and  law.  The  formal  studies  consti- 
tute an  indispensable  part  of  useful  and  disciplinary 
knowledge,  but  they  should  occupy  a  secondary  place 
in  courses  of  study  because  they  deal  with  the  form 
rather  than  with  the  content  of  the  sciences.  It  is  a 
fundamental  error  to  place  formal  studies  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  school  course  and  to  subordinate  everything 
to  their  mastery.  History  and  natural  science,  on 
the  contrary,  having  the  richest  knowledge  content, 
constitute  a  natural  centre  for  all  educative  efforts. 
They  make  possible  a  strong  development  of  will 
energy,  because  their  interesting  materials  furnish 
strong  and  legitimate  incentives  to  mental  activity 
and  an  enlarged  field  and  opportunity  to  voluntary 
effort  in  pursuit  of  clear  and  attractive  aims. 


CHAPTER   III 

INTEREST 

The  girl  intent  upon  the  story  of  Cinderella,  the 
college  youth  watching  a  game  of  foot-ball,  the  chil- 
dren at  home  listening  at  the  mother's  knee  to  the 
adventures  of  Jack  climbing  the  bean-stalk,  the  boy 
pulling  in  a  good-sized  bass  or  pickerel  with  hook 
and  line,  the  little  girl  dressing  her  doll  and  prepar- 
ing for  a  miniature  tea  party,  the  boy  with  his  tools 
making  a  pair  of  bob-sleds,  or  coasting  upon  them 
down  the  long  hill  with  his  companions,  —  all  these 
are  illustrations  of  what  all  of  us  would  call  hearty, 
healthy  interest  and  activity.  The  boy  scowling  over 
an  opaque  problem  in  arithmetic,  the  college  youth 
burning  his  trigonometry  and  burying  its  remains, 
the  girl,  with  unconcealed  disgust,  impatiently  shut- 
ting her  book  at  participles  and  their  uses,  the  child 
in  tears  and  distress  over  a  composition,  the  boys 
bursting  forth  from  the  schoolhouse  with  shouts  of 
joy  at  their  release  from  purgatory, — these  give  us 
the  other  side  of  the  picture. 

This  contrast   represents   perhaps   the   traditional 

view  of  the  difference  between  the.  boy,  "  creeping 

like  snail  unwilUngly  to  school,"  and  the  boy  in  his 

84 


INTEREST  85 

native  element,  full  of  the  energy  of  play  or  of  self- 
chosen  activity. 

The  principle  of  interest,  now  so  much  agitated  as 
appropriate  to  studies,  is  designed  to  lay  hold  of  this 
pleasurable  activity  for  the  school. 
/  By  interest,  as  commonly  understood,  we  mean  the 
natural  bent  or  inclination  of  the  mind  to  find  satis- 
faction in  a  subject  when  it  is  properly  presented. 
It  is  the  natural  attractiveness  of  the  object  of 
thought  that  holds  the  attention.  A  proper  interest 
in  the  subject  leads  to  a  quiet,  steady  absorption  of 
the  mind  in  it,  but  it  keeps  the  attention  active  and 
alert  without  undue  excitement  or  partiality. 

Interest  is  commonly  spoken  of  by  psychologists 
as  a  form  of  feeling,  and  belongs  therefore  to  the 
emotional  rather  than  to  the  intellectual  life.  It  is 
distinguished  from  the  other  feelings,  such  as  desire 
or  longing  or  love,  by  being  less  passionate  and  in- 
tense. Interest  may  be  thought  also  as  less  fluctuat- 
ing and  unsteady  than  more  passionate  feelings.  At 
any  rate,  it  is  often  satisfied  with  the  simple  study 
and  contemplation  without  asking  for  possession. 

Interest  also  contains  the  elements  of  ease,  pleas- 
ure, and  needed  employment.  That  is,  in  learning 
something  that  awakens  a  proper  interest  there  is 
greater  ease  and  pleasure  in  the  acquisition,  and 
occupation  with  the  object  satisfies  an  inner  need. 
Ziller  says  :  "  When  interest  has  been  properly  devel- 
oped it  must  always  combine  pleasure,  facility,  and 


86  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

the  satisfaction  of  a  need.  We  see  again  that  in  all 
exertions,  power  and  pleasure  are  secured  to  interest. 
It  does  not  feel  the  burden  of  difficulties,  but  often 
seems  to  sport  with  them." 

One  of  the  best  writers  on  this  topic,  Ostermann, 
defines  interest  as  a  feeling  of  value,  a  sense  or 
estimation  of  the  worth  of  the  knowledge  gained. 

"  Upon  a  closer  examination  of  the  psychical  pro- 
cess which  underlies  interest,  it  can  be  seen  clearly 
that  all  valuation  is  originally  a  matter  of  feeling. 
Feeling  is  the  faculty  of  valuation  in  the  mind. 
Without  feeling  there  is  no  consciousness  of  value. 
However  much  our  opinions  may  differ  as  to  the 
nature  of  feeling,  in  this  point  all  will  agree,  that  our 
mind,  in  every  state  of  pleasure,  experiences,  or  at 
least  thinks  that  it  experiences,  some  satisfactory 
advancement ;  in  every  state  of  pain  some  hindrance ; 
and  that  it  is  unable  to  become  conscious  of  these 
advancements  or  hindrances,  as  such,  in  any  other 
way  than  through  feeling.  For  no  reason  can  be 
found  why  impressions  should  appear  to  the  mind  as 
valuable  or  as  worthless,  other  than  that  they  afford 
pleasure  or  pain.  The  mind  experiences  through 
them  an  advancement  or  a  hindrance  of   its  life." 

In  our  eager  pursuit  of  intellectual  training  and 
knowledge  we  sometimes  forget  that  the  interests 
or  sensibilities  awakened  by  knowledge  are  what  give 
it  personal  significance  to  us.  So  long  as  a  child  has 
acquired  no  interest  in  history,  he  is  like  a  stranger  in 


INTEREST  87 

a  foreign  land,  no  matter  how  many  of  its  facts  he 
has  memorized.  He  is  disposed  to  wonder  what  it  is 
all  for.  It  has  no  meaning  for  his  life,  but  his  faith 
in  it  depends  upon  the  judgment  of  others,  imposed 
upon  him ;  that  is,  upon  authority.  But  when  his 
interest  is  once  awakened  in  a  subject,  he  feels  its 
value  and  its  relation  to  his  needs.  Without  this 
judgment  of  value  springing  from  his  own  perception 
of  worth,  he  is  almost  certain  to  regard  knowledge  as 
an  imposition,  an  impertinence,  an  intrusion. 

This  feeling  of  value  is  not  utilitarian  in  any  narrow 
sense,  if  in  any  sense  at  all.  It  appears  in  all  the 
judgments  which  estimate  worth  —  practical,  moral, 
aesthetic,  and  ideal.  It  includes  the  whole  range  of 
values.  This  consideration  of  feeling,  as  judgment 
of  value,  suggests  the  close  intimacy  that  should 
always  exist  between  intellect  and  feeling. 

The  interest  we  have  in  mind  is  intrinsic,  native  to 
the  subject,  and  springs  up  naturally  when  the  mi^nd 
is  brought  face  to  face  with  something  attractive.  It 
is  natural,  genuine,  and  spontaneous,  not  a  forced, 
extraneous,  or  artificial  phase  of  mental  action.  The 
things  of  sense  in  nature,  and  the  people  whom  we 
see  and  read  about,  have  a  perennial  and  inexhausti- 
ble interest  for  us  all.  This  interest  may  be  attrac- 
tive or  repellent.  It  is  among  these  objects  that 
poets  and  artists  find  their  material  and  inspiration. 
For  the  same  reason  the  pictures  drawn  by  the  artist 
or  poet  have  a  charm  that  does  not  pass  away.    They 


88     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

select  something  concrete  and  individual ;  they  clothe 
it  with  beauty  and  attractiveness ;  they  give  it  some 
inherent  quality  that  appeals  to  our  admiration  and 
love.  It  may  call  forth  some  aesthetic  or  moral  judg- 
ment by  virtue  of  its  natural  quality.  Like  luscious 
grapes,  the  objects  presented  to  the  thoughts  of  chil- 
dren may  have  an  unquestioned  quality  that  is 
desirable. 

J  There  are  also  bad  interests  which  should  be  in 
some  way  avoided  or  neutralized.  Parallel  with  those 
legitimate  and  worthy  interests  which  run  through 
all  the  plays,  and  studies,  and  life  experiences,  is  a 
series  of  vicious  interests,  just  as  strong  and  influential 
if  allowed  to  develop.  Parallel  with  the  home  is  the 
street  life;  parallel  with  the  better  companionships 
run  the  worse ;  and  any  one  acquainted  with  school 
truants  knows  how  strong  are  the  interests  centring 
in  the  truant  life.  Parallel  with  good  books  are  the 
poor  and  the  vicious,  and  so  throughout  the  child's 
life.  When  we  speak,  therefore,  of  cultivating  strong 
interests  in  children,  we  limit  ourselves  to  those 
interests  which  conduce  to  the  well-being  of  the  chil- 
dren and  of  society. 

It  is  customary  also  to  speak  of  direct  and  indirect 

%  interest ;  by  the  former  being  meant  the  real  thing, 
by  the  latter,  a  reflection  or  borrowed  light.  Direct 
interest  is  felt  in  the  thing  itself  for  its  own  sake, 
and  indirect  interest  points  to  something  else  as  the 
real  source.      A  miser  loves  gold  coins  for  their  own 


(  UNIVERSITY  j 

sake,  but  most  people  love  them  only  because  of  the 
things  for  which  they  may  be  exchanged.  The  poet 
loves  the  beauty  and  fragrance  of  flowers.  The  florist 
adds  to  this  a  mercenary  interest.  A  snow  shovel 
may  have,  ordinarily,  no  interest  for  us,  but  just  when 
it  is  needed  on  a  winter  morning  it  is  an  object  of 
much  valuCo  It  is  simply  a  means  to  an  end,  not  a 
thing  that  excites  interest  for  its  own  sake.  This  in- 
direct interest  may  spring,  not  out  of  the  object,  but 
from  some  desire.  A  desire  to  restore  one's  health 
will  produce  a  great  interest  in  a  health  resort,  like 
the  Hot  Springs,  or  in  some  method  of  treatment,  or 
a  vegetarian  diet.  The  desire  for  wealth  and  busi- 
ness success  will  lead  a  merchant  in  the  fur  trade  to 
take  an  interest  in  seals  and  seal  fishing,  in  beavers 
and  traps, —  things  which  in  themselves,  perhaps,  have 
never  awakened  his  interest.  The  desire  to  gain  a 
prize  will  cause  a  child  to  take  a  deep  interest  in 
lessons.  But  in  all  these  cases  the  desire  for  some- 
thing else  precedes  this  so-called  interest.  Interest, 
indeed,  in  the  thing  itself,  for  its  own  sake,  fre- 
quently is  not  present,  or,  if  present  at  all,  is  merely 
borrowed  from  another  source.  The  cultivation  of 
such  indirect  or  borrowed  interests  may  be  primarily 
the  strengthening  of  certain  inordinate  desires  or 
feelings,  such  as  rivalry,  pride,  jealousy,  ambition, 
reputation,  self-love,  and  even  much  worse  things. 
By  appealing  to  the  selfish  pride  and  rivalry  among 
children    in    getting  lessons,  hateful  moral  qualities 


90     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

may  be  startled  into  a  rank  growth  in  the  very 
laudable  effort  to  secure  the  highest  intellectual 
results  and  discipline.  Giving  a  prize  for  superiority 
often  produces  jealousy,  unkindness,  and  deep-seated 
ill-will.  These  indirect  interests,  therefore,  while 
^|L  they  produce  great  energy  of  intellectual  effort,  may 
be  sharply  scrutinized  by  the  teacher.  They  often- 
times serve  as  a  blind  to  conceal  most  hateful  qualities 
in  the  development  of  character.  There  are  strong 
reasons  which  prompt  us  to  think  that  most  teachers, 
and  even  writers  on  education,  have  had  chiefly  these 
indirect  interests  in  mind,  and  have,  therefore,  largely 
missed  the  whole  significance  of  true  interest  as  a 
factor  in  education. 

There  is,  however,  an  important  phase  of  all  studies 
and  exertions  in  which  these  indirect  interests  are 
vital  to  success,  namely,  when  they  follow  in  the 
path  of  strong  and  genuine  interests.  The  interest 
a  boy  has  in  making  a  telephone  transfers  itself  to 
all  the  batteries,  wires,  and  difficulties  met  with  in 
setting  up  a  successful  telephone.  In  all  kinds  of 
manual  training  where  children  make  a  sled,  or  book- 
case, or  trap,  in  which  they  are  personally  concerned, 
the  interest  transfers  itself  to  the  materials,  problems, 
and  irksome  difficulties  incident  to  a  successful  work- 
ing out  of  the  whole  scheme.  A  boy  reading  Dana's. 
"Two  Years  before  the  Mast"  took  great  pains  to 
study  out  in  the  appendix  to  Webster's  Dictionary  all 
the  parts  of  a  ship  and  the  common  nautical  terms  of 


INTEREST  91 

the  sailors.  So  strong  was  the  interest  in  the  story 
itself  as  to  lead  to  the  mastery  of  these  otherwise  un- 
interesting details. 

There  are  many  facts  in  each  branch  of  study 
which,  in  themselves,  excite  little  or  no  interest,  just 
as  there  are  many  details  in  a  man's  business  which, 
in  themselves,  are  only  tedious.  All  of  these  facts 
may  acquire  a  secondary  interest  by  close  association 
with  interesting  things  with  which  they  are  brought 
into  relation.  A  railroad  time-table,  wholly  dull  in 
itself,  as  John  Adams  says,  becomes  very  interesting 
to  one  about  to  take  a  long  journey.  William  James 
says :  "  Any  object  not  interesting  in  itself  may  be- 
come interesting  through  becoming  associated  with 
an  object  in  which  an  interest  already  exists.  The 
two  associated  objects  grow,  as  it  were,  together: 
the  interesting  portion  sheds  its  quality  over  the 
whole,  and  thus  things  not  interesting  in  their  own 
right  borrow  an  interest  which  becomes  as  real  and 
as  strong  as  that  of  any  natively  interesting  thing." 
For  example,  a  man  who  has  just  purchased  an 
orange  grove  in  Florida  becomes  suddenly  interested 
in  the  climate,  soil,  labor  system,  shipping  facilities, 
and  markets,  things  which,  perhaps,  were  previously 
of  little  or  no  concern  to  him.  In  studying  the  story 
of  Major  Powell's  descent  of  the  Grand  Canon  of  the 
Colorado,  the  child  becomes  interested  in  the  moun- 
tains and  in  the  upper  course  of  the  river  where  the 
men  first  launched   their   boats  on  their   dangerous 


92     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

journey.  Before  it  was  associated  with  this  daring 
adventure,  he  had  no  interest  in  the  upper  Colorado. 
James  says:  "In  mature  life  all  the  drudgery  of  a 
man's  business  or  profession,  intolerable  in  itself,  is 
shot  through  with  engrossing  significance  because  he 
knows  it  to  be  associated  with  his  personal  fortunes." 
This  indirect  interest  must,  of  course,  play  a  very 
important  part  in  all  studies.  Every  study,  however,  ^ 
should  possess  sufficient  centres  of  interest  around 
which  these  less  attractive  parts  may  be  organized. 
To  make  a  study  consist  wholly  of  this  kind  of  life- 
less material,  would  certainly  make  Jack  a  dull  boy. 

We  should,  however,  discriminate  sharply  between 
this  form  of  associate  interests,  and  the  fictitious  in- 
terests produced  by  sugar-coating  disagreeable  tasks, 
by  artificially  amusing  and  entertaining  the  children. 

The  kind  of  interest  which  we  think  is  so  valuable 
for  instruction  is  direct  and  intrinsic.  It  reaches 
down  into  those  spontaneous  and  instinctive  forces 
in  child-life  out  of  which  all  strong  activity  miist 
spring.  The  story  of  Robinson  Crusoe,  for  example, 
is  planted  down  deep  in  these  original  impulses  of 
childhood  from  which  the  current  of  efficient  effort 
may  be  led  off  in  many  directions.  Such  a  story  is 
like  the  mountain  reservoir  on  the  upper  course  of  an 
irrigating  stream.  In  the  season  of  cultivation  its 
waters  may  be  tapped,  and  many  an  arid  field  in  the 
plains  below  made  to  rejoice  with  its  refreshing  waters. 
A  boy  or  girl  may  read  page  after  page  of  "  Alad- 


INTEREST  93 

din  "  or  "  Rip  Van  Winkle  "  while  he  will  be  dragged 
with  slow  and  reluctant  steps  through  an  easier  third 
reader  or  formal  exercise-book.  With  children  in 
the  upper  grammar  grades  or  high  school,  the  auto- 
biography of  Benjamin  Franklin  calls  out  a  strong 
natural  interest  in  the  man  and  his  fortunes,  and 
opens  up  a  great  variety  of  instructive  topics.  Many 
people  also  in  adult  life  will  find  it  a  remarkable 
stimulus  to  thought  along  many  lines.  A  humming- 
bird or  butterfly  attract  and  appeal  to  us  by  their 
deHcate  beauty,  and  with  a  closer  study  reveal  strik- 
ing adaptations  in  nature.  The  cultivation  of  these 
direct  interests  in  all  valuable  kinds  of  knowledge  is 
the  thing  which  has  given  deeper  significance  to  the 
doctrine  of  interest.  In  all  these  cases  the  sources  of 
all  true  interest  are  the  chief  things  to  be  considered 
by  the  teacher,  because  they  contain  the  motives 
which  prompt  to  exertion. 

Perhaps  the  chief  source  of  misunderstanding  and 
controversy  in  the  whole  discussion  of  interest  is 
brought  to  light  by  the  expression,  *'  Making  things 
interesting  to  children."  This  exj^ression  suggests  a 
wholly  erroneous  point  of  view  as  to  trhat  is  meant 
by  true  interest.  No  one  would  speak  of  trying  to 
make  sugar  sweet.  It  is  equally  absurd  to  talk  of 
making  instruction  interesting,  although  this  is  not 
quite  so  apparent.  In  the  deeper  sense,  instruction 
should  be  interesting  before  the  teacher  lays  his 
hands  upon  it.     A  ten-year-old  boy  does  not  need  to 


94     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

have  "Robinson  Crusoe"  made  interesting.  Give  him 
the  book  and  he  and  Crusoe  will  get  along  together 
without  weariness.  We  do  not  say  that  all  school 
work  is  so  entrancing,  but  a  very  large  part  of  what 
we  are  now  teaching  in  the  schools  contains  this  ele- 
ment of  real  interest  which  does  not  have  to  be  sugar- 
coated.  Adams  says:  "Teachers  are  fond  of  talking 
about  creating  an  interest,  but  this  labor  at  least  is 
spared  them.  They  have  not  to  create  but  only  to 
direct  interest."  If  interest  consists  chiefly  in  artifi- 
cial devices  for  overcoming  the  dulness  of  studies, 
in  perpetual  efforts  to  make  lessons  easy  and  enter- 
taining, the  opponents  of  this  theory  are  well  justi- 
fied. In  characterizing  the  opponents  of  interest, 
John  Dewey  gives  their  point  of  view  as  follows :  — 

"  Apart  from  the  question  of  the  future,  continually 
to  appeal  even  in  childhood  days  to  the  principle  of 
interest  is  eternally  to  excite,  that  is,  distract,  the 
child.  Continuity  of  activity  is  destroyed.  Every- 
thing is  made  play,  amusement.  This  means  over- 
stimulation ;  it  means  dissipation  of  energy.  Will  is 
never  called  into  action  at  all.  The  reliance  is  upon 
external  attractions  and  amusements.  Everything  is 
sugar-coated  for  the  child,  and  he  soon  learns  to  turn 
from  everything  which  is  not  artificially  surrounded 
with  diverting  circumstances.  The  spoiled  child  who 
does  only  what  he  likes  is  the  inevitable  outcome  of 
the  theory  of  interest  in  education. 

"The  theory  is  intellectually  as  well   as  morally 


INTEREST  95 

harmful.  Attention  is  never  directed  to  the  essential 
and  important  facts.  It  is  directed  simply  to  the 
wrappings  of  attraction  with  which  the  facts  are  sur- 
rounded. If  a  fact  is  repulsive  or  uninteresting,  it 
has  to  be  faced  in  its  own  naked  character  sooner  or 
later.  Putting  a  fringe  of  fictitious  interest  around  it 
does  not  bring  the  child  any  nearer  to  it  than  he  was 
at  the  outset." 

This  point  of  view  assumes  that  interest  is  really  a 
fictitious  thing ;  that  it  does  not  reach  down  into  the 
inner  substance  and  quality  of  the  object  studied.  In 
fact  the  use  of  the  word  fictitious  implies  that  the 
whole  thing  is  a  fraud,  that  real  genuine  interest  in  a 
subject  of  study  is  an  tinheard-of  thing. 

We  often  say  that  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  subject 
interesting  so  that  it  majr  be  more  palatable,  more 
easily  learned.  This  is  the  commonly  accepted  idea. 
It  is  a  means  of  helping  us  to  swallow  a  distasteful 
medicine,  to  cover  up  the  real  bitterness  of  the  dose 
which  is  to  do  us  good.  There  is  a  certain  trickiness 
and  deceit  in  this  kind  of  an  interest,  and  the  child, 
as  soon  as  he  is  able  to  reflect  upon  it,  perceives  that 
he  has  been  fooled.  We  may  call  this  a  ps_eudo  o.r 
false  interest,  interest  so  called,  which  needs  to  be 
excluded  from  the  category  of  real  interests.  When 
we  speak  of  teachers  making  a  disagreeable  lesson 
interesting,  we  are  playing  a  game  of  jugglery.  We 
are  thinking  of  the  devices  by  which  the  teacher  con- 
ceals the  emptiness  and  barrenness  of   the  subject. 


96     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

It  is  a  kind  of  mockery  to  talk  of  interest  in  such 
cases.  True  interest  corresponds  exactly  to  the 
hearty  appetite  of  a  healthy  child  for  wholesome  food. 
It  is  awakened  by  the  inherent  quality  of  the  subject 
and  not  by  a  thin  whitewash  of  agreeable  devices. 
If  the  main  purpose  of  education  were  to  get  knowl- 
edge into  the  mind,  and  if  knowledge,  like  medicine, 
had  no  relish  for  the  young,  educators,  like  physi- 
cians, might  be  justified  in  resorting  to  this  device ; 
but  interest  is  one  of  the  leading  qualities  which  we 
wish  to  see  permanently  associated  with  knowledge, 
even  after  it  is  safely  stored  in  the  mind.  If  interest 
is  there,  future  energy  and  activity  will  spring  spon- 
taneously out  of  the  acquirements.  The  interest  that 
is  awakened  in  a  subject  because  of  its  innate  attrac- 
tiveness, leaves  those  incentives  which  will  ripen 
sooner  or  later  into  action.  This  kind  of  interest  is 
direct,  intrinsic,  not  simply  receptive,  but  active  and 
progressive.  It  is  life-giving  and  is  prompted  by  the 
objects  themselves,  just  as  the  interest  of  boys  is 
awakened  by  deeds  of  adventure  and  daring  or  by  a 
journey  into  the  woods. 

It  is  inevitable  that  a  teacher  having  this  false 
notion  of  interest,  that  it  consists  not  in  bringing  out 
the  inner  qualities  of  the  subject,  but  is  spicing  and 
sugar-coating,  in  fun  and  jokes,  and  entertaining  by- 
play, —  it  is  inevitable,  we  say,  that  such  a  teacher 
will  spoil  the  children  with  sweetmeats  and  herself 
fall  a  prey  to  unworthy  motives  and  trivial  devices. 


INTEREST  97 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  such  a  serious  thing  as  edu- 
cation to  run  the  good  ship  aground  upon  the  shoals 
of  such  shallow  nonsense. 

An  equally  serious  blunder  is  made  by  us  when  we 
assume  that  it  is  our  business  to  make  instruction  easy. 
It  might  better  be  said  that  it  is  the  peculiar  business 
of  the  teacher  to  make  instruction  difficult.  Rous- 
seau said  that  he  wished  some  one  would  invent  a 
method  by  which  the  process  of  learning  might  be 
made  difficult,  and  practically  it  is  true  that  teachers 
help  the  children  too  much.  Unquestionably  the 
greatest  interest  which  children  can  feel  in  their 
studies  is  found  when  they  shoulder  their  own  tasks 
manfully  and  work  their  way  through  their  own  diffi- 
culties with  the  least  aanount  of  help.  Self-activity  is 
the  fundamental  basis  of  a  strong  interest.  It  should 
not  be  •  forgotten,  however,  that  this  implies  aims 
which  the  children  themselves  are  working  out.  Par- 
ents are  often  astonished  at  the  amount  of  drudgery 
and  hard  work  ^hich  children  will  encounter  in  carry- 
ing out  some  project  which  they  themselves  have 
conceived,  of  building  a  tree-house,  or  making  a  cave, 
or  fixing  up  a  play-ground.  In  practical  life  every- 
where men  will  work  their  way  through  endless  drudg- 
ery in  order  to  achieve  results  which  they  have  set 
up  as  desirable.  If  this  kind  of  energy  could  be  let 
loose  in  school  studies,  it  would  save  the  teacher  a 
good  deal  of  anxiety.  We  are  well  aware  that  boys 
and  girls  possess  superabundant  energy.     The  prob- 


98     THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

lem  is  how  to  release  this  energy  along  school  lines. 
Many  teachers  make  the  fatal  mistake  of  thinking 
that  they  must  make  the  lessons  easy  and  interesting. 
The  result  is  a  pitiful  feebleness,  flabbiness,  and  help- 
lessness on  the  part  of  good  stout  boys  and  girls  who 
are  fully  capable  of  doing  problems  twice  as  difficult. 
If  necessary  with  these  pampered  youngsters,  I  would 
sacrifice  something  even  of  the  principle  of  interest 
for  the  sake  of  bringing  them  up  squarely  against 
real  difficulties,  so  as  to  convince  them  that  the  school 
is  not  the  place  to  be  helped  into  helplessness.  This 
is  a  most  serious  problem  for  the  majority  of  our 
teachers.  They  should  resort  to  no  end  of  devices  to 
keep  from  helping  the  children  and  to  teach  them  to 
rely  upon  themselves.  Any  one  who  supposes  that 
he  is  increasing  the  interest  of  children  in  their 
school  work  by  directly  helping  them  over  all  their 
hard  places,  does  not  understand  human  nature  in 
children.  When  they  are  interested  in  anything,  they 
want  to  be  left  alone  to  work  it  out  for  themselves. 
It  is  only  when  they  have  been  injudiciously  helped, 
and  have  been  dulled  by  Ufeless  instruction,  that  they 
lose  interest  and  fall  down  in  despair  before  every 
molehill.  Of  course  there  is  another  side  to  this 
question.  It  is  the  special  business  of  the  teacher  to 
set  up  interesting  problems  demanding  the  strongest 
effort,  and  to  see  that  the  children  are  in  possession 
of  the  essential  facts  and  conditions  which  make  it 
possible  to  reach  a  solution.     In  these  preliminaries 


INTEREST  99 

the  teacher  can  put  in  his  work  to  the  greatest  ad- 
vantage, but  when  he  has  the  children  started  in  the 
right  direction  under  right  conditions,  let  him  keep 
his  hands  off.  The  fact  is  the  children  will  resent 
his  interference,  and  his  injudicious  desire  to  help. 
It  would  not  be  difficult  to  multiply  illustrations  from 
every  study  showing  that  whenever  children  are  once 
well  interested  in  a  problem  they  wish  to  be  let  alone 
to  work  it  out  for  themselves.  If  it  be  a  boy  work- 
ing at  a  difficult  problem  in  percentage,  or  making  a 
sled  in  the  manual  training,  when  he  gets  well  started 
he  desires  nothing  better  than  freedom  and  autonomy 
in  his  work.  Perhaps  the  greatest  opening  toward 
better  methods  of  instruction  is  in  the  direction  of 
laying  out  in  every  subject  the  series  of  interesting 
problems,  in  proper  order  and  relation,  which  boys 
and  girls  may  then  be  led  to  encounter. 

There  is,  then,  a  true  philosophy  in  saying  that  the 
way  to  make  things  interesting  to  boys  and  girls  is 
to  make  them  difficult.  What  interest  would  there 
be  in  base-ball  if  it  did  not  put  the  players  under  the 
necessity  of  exhibiting  the  greatest  endurance,  skill, 
and  self-control  ? 

The  true  doctrine  of  interest,  therefore,  has  noth- 
ing in  common  with  that  idea  of  spicing  the  subjects 
so  as  to  make  them  artificially  interesting,  nor  with 
the  other  idea  of  making  school  work  easy,  lacka- 
daisical, and  nerveless.  It  is  now  generally  felt 
among   thoughtful   teachers   that   the  school  has  a 


lOO  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

greatly  increased  responsibility  for  a  rigorous  train- 
ing in  mastering  difficulties.  When  most  of  the  boys 
were  brought  up  on  farms  they  got  this  training  at 
home,  whether  or  not  they  did  in  school,  but  now  in 
our  towns  and  cities  the  only  place  where  a  great 
many  boys  and  girls  can  be  brought  under  severe 
discipline  is  the  school,  and  interest  in  overcoming 
difficulties  should  be  one  of  the  chief  agencies. 

There  is  one  other  characteristic  of  true  interest 
which  we  have  reserved  for  special  emphasis.  The 
kind  of  interest  which  is  most  worth  awakening  in 
pupils  is  not  only  direct  and  intrinsic,  but  permanent. 
The  best  kind  of  knowledge  is  that  which  lays  a  per- 
manent hold  upon  the  affections.  The  best  method  of 
learning  is  that  which  opens  up  any  field  of  study  with 
a  growing  interest.  The  reason  why  in  so  many 
schools  we  are  using  such  biographical  stories  in  the 
early  history  work  as  the  life  of  William  Penn,  of 
Columbus,  of  LaSalle,  and  of  George  Rogers  Clark  is 
that  they  are  adapted  to  children  of  this  age  to  arouse 
a  strong  and  growing  interest  in  American  history. 
It  is  hoped  that  this  will  be  intensified  by  later  studies. 
Hawthorne's  story  of  the  "  Golden  Touch  "  embodies 
a  simple  classic  truth  in  such  transparent  beauty  that 
its  reperusal  is  always  a  pleasure.  In  the  same  way 
a  little  child  that  has  once  observed  the  autumn 
woods  and  flowers,  the  birds  and  insects,  with  sym- 
pathy and  delight,  has  laid  in  his  memory  the  basis 
of  a. lasting  pleasure  which  he  may  deepen  and  ex- 


INTEREST  lOI 

tend  in  all  his  future  experience.  To  awaken  a 
child's  growing  interest  in  any  branch  of  knowledge 
is  to  accomplish  much  for  his  character  and  useful- 
ness. An  enduring  interest  in  American  history, 
for  example,  is  valuable  in  the  best  sense,  no  matter 
what  the  method  of  instruction.  Any  companion  or 
book  that  teaches  us  to  observe  the  birds  with  grow- 
ing interest  and  pleasure,  has  done  what  a  teacher 
could  scarcely  do  better.  This  kind  of  knowledge 
becomes  a  living  generative  culture  influence.  Knowl- 1 
edge  which  contains  no  springs  of  interest  is  dead,  like  I 
faith  divorced  from  works.  Information  and  disci- 
pline may  be  gained  in  education  without  any  lasting 
interest,  but  it  is  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  better  part. 
The  one  who  uses  such  knowledge  and  discipline  is 
only  a  machine.  A  Cambridge  student,  who  had 
taken  the  best  prizes  and  scholarships,  said  at  the 
end  of  his  university  career :  "  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know 
what  to  do.  I  have  already  gained  the  best  distinc- 
tions, and  I  can  see  but  Httle  to  work  for  in  the  future." 
The  child  of  four  years  who  opens  his  eyes  with 
unfeigned  interest  and  surprised  inquiry  into  the  big 
world  around  him,  has  a  better  spirit  than  such  a 
dead  product  of  university  training.  But  happily 
this  is  not  the  present  spirit  of  our  universities.  The 
remarkable  and  characteristic  idea  in  university  life 
to-day  is  the  spirit  of  investigation  and  scientific 
inquiry  which  it  constantly  awakens.  We  happen 
to  live  in  a  time  when  university  teachers  are  trying 


102    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

to  enlarge  the  bounds  of  human  knowledge  in  every 
direction,  to  solve  problems  that  have  not  been  solved 
before.  No  matter  what  the  subject,  the  real  student 
soon  becomes  an  explorer,  an  investigator,  in  fields 
of  absorbing  interest.  The  common  school  can 
scarcely  do  better  than  to  receive  this  generous  im- 
pulse into  its  work.  Can  our  common  studies  be 
approached  in  this  inquisitive  spirit  ?  Can  growth  in 
knowledge  be  made  a  progressive  investigation  }  A 
true  interest  takes  pleasure  in  acquired  knowledge, 
and  standing  upon  this  vantage  looks  with  inquiring 
purpose  into  new  worlds.  Children  in  our  schools 
are  sometimes  made  so  dyspeptic  that  no  knowledge 
has  any  relish.  But  the  soul  should  grow  strong, 
and  healthy,  and  elastic  upon  the  food  it  takes.  If 
the  teaching  is  such  that  the  appetite  becomes 
stronger,  the  mental  digestion  better,  and  if  the 
spirit  of  interest  and  inquiry  grows  into  a  steady 
force,  the  best  results  may  be  expected. 

It  is  pretty  generally  agreed  to  by  thoughtful  edu- 
cators that  in  giving  a  child  the  broad  foundations 
of  education  we  should  especially  deepen  the  suscep- 
tibility and  appreciation  for  it,  that  is,  the  feeling 
of  the  worth  or  power  or  beauty  of  knowledge.  A 
universal  receptivity,  such  as  Rousseau  requires  of 
Emile,  is  a  desideratum.  Scarcely  a  better  dowry 
can  be  bestowed  upon  a  child  through  education  than 
a  desire  for  knowledge  and  an  intelligent  interest  in 
all  important  branches  of   study.     Herbart's  many- 


INTEREST  103 

sided  interest  is  to  strengthen  and  branch  out  from 
year  to  year  during  school  life  and  become  a  per- 
manent tendency  or  force  in  later  years.  No  school 
can  give  even  an  approach  to  full  and  encyclopaedic 
knowledge,  but  no  school  is  so  humble  that  it  may 
not  throw  open  the  doors  and  present  many  a  pleas- 
ing prospect  into  the  fields  of  learning. 

The  problem  before  us  is  to  find  out  the  place 
of  this  genuine  form  of  interest  in  a  scheme  of 
training.  In  recent  years  the  doctrine  of  interest 
and  its  importance  to  children  and  teachers  have 
been  thrust  upon  the  attention  of  all  those  concerned 
with  education  by  a  variety  of  important  agencies. 
The  scientific  thinkers  and  leaders  of  the  modern 
world,  such  as  Huxley,  Youmans,  Agassiz,  Tyndall, 
and  others,  followed  by  the  whole  host  of  scientific 
investigators  and  teachers,  have  demanded  that  the 
dull  routine  of  formal  and  disciplinary  studies  in 
language,  mathematics,  spelling,  and  geography 
shall  give  place,  in  a  large  measure,  to  those  inter- 
esting observations  of  plant  and  animal  life,  to  simple 
experiments  in  physics  and  chemistry,  to  those  excur- 
sions for  the  study  of  soil,  rocks,  clouds,  and  the  nat- 
ural phenomena  of  the  seasons,  winds,  and  the  open 
sky,  which  appeal  so  powerfully  to  all  children.  The 
great  scientific  writers  have  spoken  in  no  uncertain 
tones  of  the  original  power  and  educative  influence 
of  natural  science  phenomena,  based  upon  the 
spontaneous  and  healthy  interests  of  childhood. 


104         THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

Eminent  writers  on  education  like  Comenius, 
Rousseau,  Montaigne,  Froebel,  Milton,  and  Locke 
have  scourged  the  dull  routine  of  the  school,  and 
have  demanded  more  interesting  and  life-giving 
materials  of  study.  Philosophers  like  Herbart,  Mill, 
Spencer,  and  Lotze  have  set  forth  in  the  strongest 
terms  the  value  of  this  appeal  to  the  emotional 
nature.  Novelists  like  Dickens  and  George^, JEliot 
have  criticised  and  caricatured  the  formal  pedantry 
of  the  schoolmaster. 

The  enrichment  of  the  school  course  with  modern 
history,  biography,  literature,  geography,  natural 
science,  and  constructive  work  has  brought  a  great 
quantity  of  lively  instruction  into  common  use. 

A  great  many  teachers  also  in  primary  and  other 
grades  have  felt  keenly  the  hopeless  dulness  and 
irksome  drills  of  the  old-fashioned  schools.  In  con- 
sequence, they  have  searched  out  in  story,  in  litera- 
ture, and  in  nature  study  varied  and  abundant 
sources  of  natural  interest,  and  have  made  large 
and  successful  use  of  these  materials. 

The  school  of  Herbart  and  his  successors  went  so 
far  as  to  set  up  the  doctrine  of  interest  as  a  cardinal 
principle  of  good  educative  work,  and  laid  out  careful 
courses  of  study,  giving  scope  to  this  doctrine. 

As  in  the  case  of  every  new  emphasis  of  an  old 
principle,  many  teachers  have  seized  upon  it  with 
avidity,  and  have  committed  no  end  of  serious 
blunders   in   applying   it    to    school    studies.      The 


INTEREST 


UNIVE'KSfTY 

OF 


disciplinary  schoolmasters,  and  those  who  hold  with 
them,  have  felt  that  a  weak  and  sugary  principle  has 
been  substituted  for  a  strong  and  virile  one  in  educa- 
tion. But  not  only  the  schoolmasters,  in  attempting 
to  shield  their  practice,  have  set  up  the  idea  of 
discipline  and  rigor  as  opposed  to  interest  and 
amusement;  even  eminent  writers  have  sounded  the 
alarm  against  the  effeminate  and  enervating  doctrine 
of  interest. 

The  problem  therefore  which  lies  before  us  is  to 
study  out  the  real  sources  of  children's  interests 
and  the  true  relation  of  the  principle  of  interest 
to  those  long-recognized  and  well-established  canons 
suggested  by  the  famihar  terms,  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge, intellectual  discipline,  attention,  memory,  imagi- 
nation, development  of  will  power,  and  growth  in 
moral  character.  It  may  be  necessary  also  to  enter 
into  some  sort  of  friendly  relations  with  those  new 
arrivals  on  the  educational  camping  ground,  apper- 
ception and  correlation.  It  is  suggestive  to  note 
that  in  the  whole  catalogue  of  ideas  which  ancient 
and  modern  pedagogy  have  brought  to  the  attention 
of  teachers,  the  doctrine  of  interest  is  the  only  one 
which  gives  special  emphasis  to  the  emotional  life. 
The  older  pedagogy  gives  a  large  place  and  impor- 
tance to  the  intellect  and  the  will,  but  the  value  of 
the  feelings,  of  the  emotional  life,  to  the  training 
of  the  child,  has  been  admitted  very  slowly  and 
grudgingly. 


I06  THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

Assuming  now,  without  argument,  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  a  true  and  genuine  interest  in  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge,  and  that  the  multitude 
of  writers  who  have  emphasized  this  principle  have 
not  been  mistaken,  we  may  inquire  what,  by  common 
consent,  are  regarded  as  the  chief  sources  of  right 
and  wholesome  interest.  We  may  even  go  farther 
into  the  somewhat  technical  question  of  the  chief 
phases  or  kinds  which  psychologists  and  philoso- 
phers have  named  in  their  efforts  to  classify  interests. 
In  this  way  we  may  get  a  sort  of  crude  basis  for  the 
study  of  interest  in  its  relation  to  the  chief  pedagogi- 
cal concepts  named  above. 

When  a  little  girl  three  years  old  repeats  with 
gusto  the  story  of  the  death  and  burial  of  "  Poor 
Cock  Robin,"  or  sings  it  to  herself  for  her  own 
amusement  when  put  to  bed,  we  may  inquire  first 
how  and  why  she  learned  it,  and  secondly  why  she 
repeats  it  to  herself.  It  is  a  poem  of  thirteen  verses, 
and  a  grown  person,  new  to  this  kind  of  literature, 
would  be  subjected  to  painful  toil  in  learning  it. 
Without  tedious  reflection  or  psychological  analysis 
one  is  incHned  to  answer  that  she  liked  it,  and  that 
it  was  imprinted  upon  her  memory  without  conscious 
effort.  There  was  in  the  Mother  Goose  melody 
a  rhythmic  jingle  and  a  simple  dramatic  story  of 
persons  which  completely  captured  and  continued  to 
hold  her  interest. 

With  equal  fluency  and  ready  prattle  she  repeats 


INTEREST  107 

the  story  of  the  "Walrus  and  the  Carpenter," 
of  ''  Old  Mother  Hubbard  and  her  Dog,"  of  "  Simple 
Simon,"  of  ''Old  King  Cole,"  and  other  such  divert- 
ing stories  from  "  Mother  Goose,"  and  other  sources. 
It  is  noticed  also  that  a  small  boy  seven  years  old, 
in  the  second  grade,  reads  one  of  these  Mother  Goose 
stories  with  much  intensity  of  interest.  He  bends 
to  the  task  of  spelling  out  and  pronouncing  new 
words  with  a  courage  and  devotion  that  would 
please  the  elect.  But  if  called  upon  to  read  an 
exercise  in  the  second  reader  he  might  prove  balky. 
Hugh  Miller  says  :  "  During  my  sixth  year  I  spelled 
my  way  through  the  Shorter  Catechism,  the  Prov- 
erbs, and  the  New  Testament,  and  then  entered  upon 
the  highest  form  in  the  dame's  school  as  a  member 
of  the  Bible  class.  But  all  the  while  the  process 
of  learning  had  been  a  dark  one,  which  I  slowly 
mastered,  in  humble  confidence  in  the  awful  wis- 
dom of  the  schoolmistress,  not  knowing  whither  it 
tended ;  when  at  once  my  mind  awoke  to  the 
meaning  of  the  most  delightful  of  all  narratives  — 
the  story  of  Joseph.  Was  there  ever  such  a  dis- 
covery made  before !  I  actually  found  out  for  myself 
that  the  art  of  reading  is  the  art  of  finding  stories  in 
books ;  and  from  that  moment  reading  became  one 
of  the  most  delightful  of  my  amusements." 

William  James  says:  "A  college  athlete  who 
remains  a  dunce  at  his  books  may  amaze  you  by 
his  knowledge  of  the  records  at   various  feats  and 


I08  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

games,  and  prove  himself  a  walking  dictionary  of 
sporting  statistics.  The  reason  is,  that  he  is  con- 
stantly going  over  these  things  in  his  mind  and 
comparing  and  making  series  of  them."  But  if  we 
ask  ourselves  why  he  makes  these  series  and  associa- 
tions, and  fails  to  master  those  more  important  series 
in  his  college  text-books,  we  are  compelled  to  answer 
that  he  is  interested  in  sporting  matters  but  not  in 
the  text-books.  A  little  four-year-old  girl,  with  bright 
red  stockings  and  shoes,  and  a  new  dress,  is  pleased 
with  the  chance  of  going  to  Sunday-school,  and  when 
she  returns  she  knows  how  the  little  girls  were 
dressed,  their  bonnets,  and  shoes  and  stockings,  and 
ribbons,  and  their  red  or  blue  cloaks.  In  the  midst 
of  her  pleasurable  excitements  she  may  have  picked 
up  the  words  of  the  golden  text.  Liebig  when  a 
boy  in  the  German  Gymnasium  was  a  dunce  in 
Latin,  but  he  worked  up  a  laboratory  and  made  such 
rapid,  enthusiastic  progress  in  chemistry  and  physics 
that,  when  about  twenty-one  years  old,  he  aston- 
ished the  savants  in  Paris  by  the  originality  of  his 
scientific  experiments  and  demonstrations. 

A  seven-year-old  boy  goes  out  with  his  aunt  in  the 
springtime  on  excursions  to  observe  the  wild  birds, 
the  first  spring  flowers,  and  the  common  weeds.  It 
is  delightful  and  almost  pathetic  to  observe  the 
pleasure  with  which  he  finds  a  spring  blossom  and 
stretches  himself  on  the  ground  to  see  it  more  closely 
and  to  enjoy  its  beauty.     At  the  close  of  the  spring 


INTEREST  109 

excursions,  people  are  surprised  at  his  knowledge  of 
birds  and  flowers  and  weeds,  and  yet  he  is  only  an 
ordinary  school  urchin.  It  is  said  that  the  philoso- 
pher  Kant  on  receiving  a  copy  of  Rousseau's  ''Emile" 
was  so  absorbed  with  its  contents,  that  he  did  not 
go  to  bed  nor  take  his  usual  meals  till  the  book  was 
finished. 

There  are  not  a  few  instances  of  boys  who  in  early 
years  have  taken  great  delight  in  studying  Latin. 
In  youth  Frederick  August  Wolf  showed  an  astonish- 
ing love  for  Latin  and  Greek  in  the  original,  so  that 
when  he  entered  the  university  at  Gottingen,  at  the 
age  of  about  eighteen,  he  had  little  to  learn  from  his 
masters.  In  the  story  of  "  Tom  Brown  at  Rugby," 
little  Arthur,  Tom's  prot6g6,  was,  on  one  occasion, 
so  touched  with  feeling  awakened  by  the  Latin 
passage  he  was  reading  that  he  was  unable  to  ex- 
press his  thoughts  in  words,  and  no  doubt  thousands 
of  scholars  and  teachers,  after  having  mastered  the 
difficulties  of  grammars  and  vocabularies,  have  found 
most  enthusiastic  delight  in  the  orations  of  Cicero, 
in  Vergil's  "  Eneid,"  in  Homer's  "  Odyssey,"  and 
Thucydides'  history,  in  short,  in  the  classic  beauty 
and  power  in  the  ancient  masters. 

In  the  last  fifty  years  particularly,  the  study  of 
natural  science  in  its  various  branches  has  awakened 
a  boundless  enthusiasm.  In  France  and  England, 
in  Germany  and  in  the  United  States,  the  scientific 
leaders   and   investigators   have  bubbled   over   with 


no  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

enthusiasm  for  their  chosen  pursuits.  So  great  has 
been  their  interest  and  success  in  these  fields  that 
they  have  remodelled  our  courses  of  study  from  the 
primary  through  the  university,  have  compelled  the 
thinkers  and  philosophers  to  modify  the  old  systems 
of  thought,  and  have  astonished  everybody  with 
marvellous  inventions  and  discoveries. 

But  the  enthusiasm  of  modern  science  experts  is 
not  a  whit  greater  than  was  that  of  the  classical 
scholars  upon  the  revival  of  Latin  and  Greek  learn- 
ing throughout  Europe  four  hundred  years  ago. 
This  enthusiasm  for  the  ancient  classics  produced 
a  system  of  education  throughout  Europe  which  has 
controlled  the  universities  and  the  scholarly  world 
and  even  the  secondary  schools  up  to  the  present 
time.  Thf  gradual  rise  of  |fhe  scientific  spirit  and 
the  immensb  enthusiasm  of  those  believing  in  modern 
science,  history,  and  literature,  give  us  the  only  force 
which  has  been  able  to  compete,  on  equal  terms, 
with  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  learning.  This  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  marked  epochs  of  educa- 
tional history  have  found  their  origin  and  impulse  in 
profound  enthusiasms.  A  disciplinary  schoolmaster, 
whose  creed  is  bound  tight  to  a  dull  routine,  seems 
not  to  have  dreamed  of  the  spiritual  enthusiasm 
of  which  his  routine  is  a  fossil  survival.  The 
examples  given  above  may  illustrate  in  a  feeble 
way  the  variety  of  strong  interests  which  people 
of  different   ages    and    dispositions    have   felt,   and 


INTEREST  1 1 1 

show   that   these   interests  are   powerful   agents   in 
education. 

Eminent  thinkers  have  tried  to  give  us  a  table 
of  interests,  a  systematic  grouping  of  these  power- 
ful motives  of  mental  action.  About  a  hundred 
years  ago,  Herbart  tried  to  grasp  the  whole  field  of 
interests  in  two  large  categories,  each  with  three 
subordinate  classes.  The  first  group  of  interests 
consists  of  those  which  are  awakened  by  nature  apart 
from  man.  This  includes  the  whole  realm  of  natural 
science  with  its  great  variety  of  branches  of  study. 
The  second  group  includes  the  study  of  man  in  biog- 
raphy, history,  literature,  and  all  the  social  sciences. 
This  grouping  of  the  world  about  us  into  the  two  great 
fields,  first  of  directly  human  affairs,  and  second  of 
external  objects  and  phenomena  in  nature,  is  a  com- 
mon and  convenient  classification  among  thinkers. 
It  gives  emphasis,  for  pedagogical  purposes,  to  the 
great  realities  of  experience  as  distinguished  from 
the  more  formal  branches  of  study.  Among  natural 
objects  and  phenomena  three  chief  sources  of  lively 
interest  are  distinguished.  The  empirical  which  is 
stirred  by  the  superficial  variety,  novelty,  and  attrac- 
tiveness of  things  in  nature.  There  is  pleasure  in 
observing  the  many  faces  and  moods  in  nature.  Be- 
tween the  years  of  childhood  and  old  age  there  is 
scarcely  a  person  who  does  not  enjoy  a  walk  or  a 
ride  in  the  open  air,  where  the  variety  of  plant,  bird, 
animal,  and  landscape  makes  a  pleasing  panorama. 


112    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

This  is  the  chief  source  of  interest  for  most  people 
who  travel  for  the  pleasure  of  sight-seeing.  Specula- 
tive interest  springs  from  a  deeper  source  and  inquires 
into  the  relations  and  causal  connections  of  phe- 
nomena. It  is  not  satisfied  with  the  simple  play  of 
variety,  but  seeks  for  the  genesis  and  outcome  of 
things.  It  traces  out  similarities  and  sequences,  and 
detects  law  and  unity  in  nature.  In  fact,  it  leads  to 
science  or  classified  knowledge.  Even  a  child  may 
be  eager  to  know  how  a  squirrel  climbs  a  tree  or 
cracks  a  nut,  where  it  stores  its  winter  food,  when 
and  how  its  nest  is  built,  its  manner  of  life  in  winter 
and  summer  ;  why  it  is  that  a  mole  can  burrow  under- 
ground; how  it  is  possible  for  a  fish  to  breathe  in 
water.  Esthetic  interest  is  awakened  by  what  is 
beautiful,  grand,  and  harmonious  in  nature  or  art. 
The  first  glance  of  a  vast  cathedral,  or  of  great  over- 
hanging masses  of  rock  in  the  mountains,  oppresses  us 
with  a  feeUng  of  awe.  The  wings  of  an  insect,  with 
their  delicate  tracery  and  bright  hues,  are  attractive 
and  stir  us  with  pleasure.  The  graceful  ferns  beside 
the  brooks  and  moss-stained  rocks  suggest  fairy-land. 
Of  equal  strength  with  these  interests  which  at- 
tach us  to  the  things  of  nature  are  the  interests  of 
humanity.  The  concern  felt  for  other  persons  in  joy 
or  sorrow  is  based  upon  our  interest  in  them  as  indi- 
viduals, and  has  been  called  the  sympathetic  interest. 
It  is  the  basis  of  the  strong  bond  of  friendship.  In 
it  lies  the  charm  of  biography  and  the  novel.     Take 


INTEREST  113 

away  the  personal  interest  we  have  in  Ivanhoe, 
Quentin  Durward,  Ellen  in  the  "  Lady  of  the  Lake," 
and  other  characters,  and  Scott's  glory  would  quickly 
depart.  What  empty  and  spiritless  annals  would  the 
life  of  Frederick  the  Great,  Maria  Theresa,  Alex- 
ander, or  Patrick  Henry  furnish !  In  nearly  all  fic- 
tion, dramatic  literature,  and  biography,  the  personal 
interest  is  the  magnet  which  controls  thought  and 
attention.  Social  interest  is  the  regard  for  the  good 
or  evil  fortune  of  societies  and  nations.  Upon  this 
depends  our  concern  for  the  progress  of  liberty  and 
the  struggle  for  free  institutions  in  England  and 
other  countries.  On  a  smaller  scale  clubs,  fraternities, 
and  local  societies  of  all  kinds  are  based  on  the  social 
interests.  Religious  interest,  finally,  reveals  our  con- 
sciousness of  man's  littleness  and  weakness  and  of 
God's  providence.  As  Pestalozzi  says,  *'God  is  the 
nearest  resource  of  humanity."  As  individuals  or 
nations  pass  away  their  fate  lies  in  His  hand. 

The  sources  of  interest,  therefore,  are  varied  and 
productive.  Any  one  of  the  six  is  unlimited  in  ex- 
tent and  variety.  Together  they  constitute  a  bound- 
less field  for  a  proper  cultivation  of  the  emotional  as 
well  as  the  intellectual  nature  of  man.  A  study  of 
these  sources  of  genuine  interest,  and  a  partial  view 
of  their  breadth  and  depth,  reveals  to  teachers  what 
our  present  school  courses  tend  strongly  to  make 
them  forget ;  namely,  that  the  right  kind  of  knowledge 
contains  in  itself  the  stimulus  and  the  germs  to  great 


114  1"^^   ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

mental  exertion.  The  dull  drill  upon  grammar, 
arithmetic,  reading,  spelling,  and  writing,  which  are 
regarded  as  so  important  as  to  exclude  almost  every- 
thing else,  has  convinced  many  a  child  that  school  is 
veritably  a  dull  place.  And  many  a  teacher  is  just  as 
strongly  convinced  that  keeping  school  is  a  dull  and 
sleepy  business.  That  these  sources  and  materials 
of  knowledge,  arousing  deep  and  lasting  interests,  are, 
above  other  things,  adapted  to  children  and  to  the 
schoolroom,  is  a  truth  worthy  of  all  emphasis. 

Herbart's  general  theory  of  interest,  in  addition  to 
the  six  great  classes  described  above,  sets  up  a  still 
more  general  comprehensive  theory  of  interest  by 
assuming  a  sort  of  affinity  between  the  historical 
development  of  the  race  and  the  stages  of  mental 
development  in  children.  Herbart  believed  that  the 
ideal  representation  in  the  great  literatures  of  the 
world  of  the  more  pronounced  and  valuable  epochs 
of  history  would  furnish  the  most  appropriate  thought 
material  for  the  studies  of  children.  The  assump- 
tion was  that  this  literature  and  history,  when  prop- 
erly selected  and  arranged,  would  make  a  strong 
appeal  to  the  instinctive  interests  and  understanding 
of  children  at  their  successive  periods  of  growth. 
This  vague  notion  has  been  elaborated  by  the  suc- 
cessors of  Herbart  into  the  theory  of  culture  epochs, 
and  has  had  a  pronounced  influence  upon  their 
courses  of  study,  especially  on  the  side  of  the  histori- 
cal, literary,  and  rehgious  materials  used. 


INTEREST  1 1  5 

In  discussing  Herbart's  classification  of  interests 
we  are  reminded  that  his  psychology  and  pedagogy 
have  been  called  a  schoolmaster's  psychology  and 
pedagogy,  implying  a  certain  scholastic  and  school- 
mastery  narrowness.  There  seems  to  be  ground  for 
this  criticism,  and  yet  it  is,  from  one  point  of  view,  a 
praiseworthy  weakness,  if  it  means  that  Herbart  was 
able  to  produce  a  psychology  and  pedagogy  which 
had  some  adaptation  to  the  schoolmaster's  needs  in 
the  usual  studies  and  management  of  his  school. 
Some  psychologists  have  not  come  so  near  as  this  to 
the  schoolmaster.  As  compared  with  our  more  recent 
development  of  pedagogical  thought,  Herbart  con- 
fines his  ideas  largely  to  the  usual  studies  and  disci- 
pline of  the  school.  The  whole  group  of  interests 
involved  in  the  motor  activities,  in  doing,  construct- 
ing, and  in  all  the  efforts  at  self-realization  in  material 
forms,  as  these  have  been  brought  to  notice  and 
emphasized  in  physiological  psychology  and  in  child 
study,  —  this  whole  group  of  interests  was  over- 
looked by  Herbart,  at  least  in  his  classification. 
Recent  developments  of  psychology,  child  study,  and 
of  the  social  phases  of  school  training  have  given  an 
emphasis  to  the  physical  and  motor  life  of  children 
and  to  their  relations  with  the  world  outside  of  the 
school  to  which  Herbart  gave  much  less  attention. 
His  emphasis  of  apperception  brought  the  school 
studies  into  very  close  touch  with  the  home  and  with 
all  a  child's  experiences  outside  of   school,  but  the 


Il6    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

emphasis  was  placed  upon  the  school  studies  rather 
than  upon  a  child's  self-expressive  activities. 

Herbart  agrees  with  the  more  recent  psychologists 
in  attributing  much  greater  value  to  the  emotional 
life.  Child  study  has  led  to  a  more  careful  examina- 
tion of  children's  interests  and  impulsive  tendencies, 
and  it  is  in  the  motor  expression  and  development  of 
these  instinctive  tendencies  that  much  progress  has 
been  made  in  recent  years. 

It  is  believed  that  there  is  through  childhood  a 
successive  rise  of  powerful  instinctive  interests,  and 
that  the  education  of  children  rests  fundamentally 
upon  the  treatment  and  development  of  these  inter- 
ests; that  is,  that  in  each  important  stage  of  child 
life  there  is  a  predominant  interest  which  character- 
izes that  period.  To  seize  each  of  these  interests  at 
the  crest  of  the  wave,  at  the  time  of  its  greatest  in- 
tensity, and  to  utilize  it  for  teaching  purposes,  thus 
lending  its  momentum  to  all  the  child's  efforts,  both 
receptive  and  expressive,  is  regarded  as  a  sign  of  the 
highest  tact  and  wisdom  in  the  teacher. 

John  Dewey,  in  his  recent  book  on  "  School  and 
Society,"  goes  a  step  farther,  and  puts  these  strong 
instinctive  interests  at  work  in  social  ways  to  bring 
the  child  into  close  relation  with  the  natural  world 
and  with  people  and  society  about  him.  To  a  con- 
siderable extent  he  breaks  loose  from  the  traditional 
order  of  studies  and  tries  to  incorporate  the  typical 
industrial   and   social   activities   of  the  great  world 


INTEREST 


117 


outside  of  the  school  into  the  school  programme. 
One  might  say  that  the  school  is  to  epitomize  the 
whole  of  our  modern  life  in  the  effort  to  realize 
the  child's  life.  Manual  training  in  all  its  forms  of 
wood  work,  drawing,  basket  making,  weaving,  sew- 
ing, cooking,  and  every  variety  of  constructive  work, 
and  the  typical  processes  in  manufacturing,  are  ab- 
sorbed into  the  school  programme.  This  is  with  a 
view  to  their  educative  influence  upon  body  and 
mind,  but  especially  with  an  emphasis  of  their  social 
significance,  so  as  to  put  the  child  into  practical 
sympathetic  relation  with  the  various  conditions  of 
our  modern  life.  Dewey  says  :  "  The  introduction 
of  active  occupations,  of  nature  study,  of  elementary 
science,  of  art,  of  history ;  the  relegation  of  the 
merely  symbolic  and  formal  to  a  secondary  position ; 
the  change  in  the  moral  school  atmosphere,  in  the 
relation  of  pupils  and  teachers  —  of  discipline;  the 
introduction  of  more  active,  expressive,  and  self- 
directing  factors,  —  all  these  are  not  mere  accidents, 
they  are  necessities  of  the  larger  social  evolution.  It 
remains  but  to  organize  all  these  factors,  to  appreciate 
them  in  their  fulness  of  meaning,  and  to  put  the 
ideas  and  ideals  involved  in  complete,  uncompromisr 
ing  possession  of  our  school  system.  To  do  this 
means  to  make  each  one  of  our  schools  an  embryonic 
community  life,  active  with  types  of  occupations  that 
reflect  the  life  of  the  larger  society,  and  permeated 
throughout  with  the  spirit  of  art,  history,  and  science. 


Il8    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

When  the  school  introduces  and  trains  each  child  of 
society  into  membership  within  such  a  little  com- 
munity, saturating  him  with  the  spirit  of  service,  and 
providing  him  with  the  instruments  of  effective  self- 
direction,  we  shall  have  the  deepest  and  best  guar- 
antee of  a  larger  society  which  is  worthy,  lovely,  and 
harmonious." 

This  whole  superstructure  of  education  rests  upon 
a  foundation  of  primordial,  instinctive  interests  in 
children.  Dewey  says,  "  Now,  keeping  in  mind 
these  fourfold  interests  —  the  interest  in  conversa- 
tion or  communication, '  in  inquiry  or  finding  out 
things ;  in  making  things  or  construction,  and  in 
v\  artistic  expression  —  we  may  say  they  are  the  natural 
resources,  the  uninvested  capital,  upon  the  exercise 
of  which  depends  the  active  growth  of  the  child." 

The  efforts  of  Dr.  Dewey,  in  his  experimental 
school  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  to  put  this  plan 
into  operation  and  to  test  its  difficulties  have  shown 
that  it  is  a  good  working  hypothesis  upon  which  to 
determine  the  value  and  practicability  of  a  profoundly 
interesting  and  important  theory  of  education. 

This  discussion  of  the  kinds  and  sources  of  inter- 
est, as  conceived  by  Herbart,  by  recent  child  study, 
and  by  Dr.  Dewey,  shows  first  the  strong  and  grow- 
ing tendency  to  place  the  instinctive,  spontaneous 
interests  of  childhood  in  the  first  place  of  impor- 
tance in  the  scheme  of  education,  and  secondly,  on 
the  basis  of  these  interests,  to  extend  the  scope  of 


INTEREST  1 19 

education  to  include  the  best  culture  materials  which 
the  history,  literature,  and  science  of  the  world  fur- 
nish, and  also  the  whole  range  of  typical  modern 
industries  and  social  life.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
this  is  a  large  problem  for  the  schoolmaster,  but  it  is 
difficult  to  see,  in  view  of  the  needs  of  the  citizen 
and  man  in  modem  life,  how  anything  less  can  be 
demanded. 

'  ^  This  leads  us  to  a  consideration  of  a  phase  of  the 
doctrine  of  interest  which  has  been  much  elaborated 
and  emphasized  by  Herbart  and  his  school ;  namely, 
the  value  of  a  ma^ty-sided  interest.  With  these 
writers  it  means  the  sympathetic  cultivation  in  every 
child  of  the  six  classes  of  interest  in  nature  and  in 
man  already  described,  and  a  selection  of  studies  and 
materials  suited  to  this  purpose.  It  is  claimed  that  a 
mind  stimulated  and  enriched  with  knowledge  along 
all  these  Hnes  is  well-balanced  and  liberalized.  It 
will  be  free  from  narrowness,  bigotry,  and  prejudice, 
and  inclined  to  be  sympathetically  active  and  public- 
spirited  in  all  public  and  private  affairs. 

With  this  tendency  to  spread  out  over  a  wide  and 
varied  field  of  activities,  the  serious  question  has 
arisen  whether  such  variety  of  studies  and  interests 
does  not  weaken  and  undermine  the  force  of  educa- 
tion. Many  have  felt  that  this  multiplicity  of  inter- 
ests must  lead  to  scattering  and  superficial  knowledge. 
With  the  emphasis  of  motor  activities  which  is  now 
made,  many-sided  interest  would  seem  to  point  natu- 


120  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

rally  to  many-sided  and  distracting  activity,  to  multi- 
plicity of  employments,  to  that  character  which  in 
Yankee  phrase  is  designated  as  Jack  of  all  trades  and 
master  of  none.  It  is  often  said  that  the  old  school 
course,  in  contrast  to  this,  was  very  simple,  very  thor- 
ough and  strong  in  its  disciplinary  value.  If  the 
educational  stream  is  confined  between  narrow  banks, 
it  will  show  a  deep  and  full  current.  If  allowed  to 
spread  out  over  the  marshes  and  plains,  it  becomes 
sluggish  and  brackish.  Our  course  of  study  for  the 
common  schools  in  recent  years  has  been  largely 
added  to  and  extended  over  the  whole  field  of  knowl- 
edge. History,  geography,  elementary  science,  music, 
and  drawing  have  been  added  to  the  old  reading, 
writing,  arithmetic,  and  grammar ;  and  now,  in  order 
to  promote  physical  and  motor  activities  of  children, 
physical  training  and  the  various  forms  of  manual 
construction  and  industrial  life  are  demanded. 

There  is  certainly  a  much  greater  variety  of  inter- 
esting studies.  When,  in  addition  to  this,  enthusiastic 
teachers  desire  to  increase  the  quantity  of  knowledge 
in  each  branch,  to  present  as  many  interesting  facts 
as  possible  so  as  to  get  a  comprehensive  grasp  of 
these  subjects,  we  have  unmistakably  the  disease 
called  the  overloading  of  the  school  course.  Chil- 
dren have  too  much  to  learn.  They  become  pack 
animals,  instead  of  free  spirits  rejoicing  in  the  fields 
of  knowledge.  We  start  out  with  many-sided  inter- 
ests, and   end   with   universal   apathy  and   dulness. 


INTEREST  121 

Mental  vigor,  after  all,  is  worth  more  than  a  mind 
grown  corpulent  and  lazy  with  excess  of  pabulum  — 
overfed.  The  cultivation,  therefore,  of  a  many- 
sided  interest  ceases  to  be  a  blessing  as  soon  as  it 
becomes  burdened  with  encyclopaedic  knowledge. 
In  fact,  the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  teachers  to  make 
the  knowledge  of  any  subject  complete  and  encyclo- 
paedic destroys  all  true  interest. 

And  yet  the  advocates  of  a  return  to  a  narrow 
curriculum  of  two  generations  ago  leave  out  of  con- 
sideration some  of  the  chief  points  in  the  argument. 
Our  children  are  being  educated  to  live  and  act  and 
carry  on  business  in  a  state  of  society  radically  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  our  grandfathers,  infinitely  more 
complex  and  many-sided  in  its  demands  upon  the 
citizen.  A  child  educated  according  to  the  narrow 
ideals  of  the  old-fashioned  schools  would  be  very 
poorly  qualified,  if  qualified  at  all,  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  the  twentieth  century.  An  intelHgent  citi- 
zen is  required  to  possess  some  definite  knowledge  of 
many  difficult  things  which  our  grandfathers  never 
heard  of,  such  as  international  arbitration,  the  single 
tax,  socialism,  concentration  of  capital  into  trusts,  pub- 
lic sanitation  ;  public  franchises,  trades  unions ;  organ- 
ized labor,  scientific  farming,  growing  specialization 
in  trades,  the  concentration  of  population  in  cities,  etc. 

The  children  of  our  age  must  be  educated  to  meet 
the  problems  of  the  present  and  the  future  rather 
than  those  of  two  or  three  generations  ago.     In  most 


122    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

cases  the  lives  of  adults  are  rendered  narrow  and 
cramped  if  their  school  education  was  limited  to  a 
narrow  field.  The  particular  trade  or  business  so 
engrosses  most  people's  time  that  their  sympathies 
are  checked  and  their  appreciation  of  the  varied 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  life  is  stunted.  William 
James  says  that  few  people  acquire  new  interests 
after  the  age  of  twenty-five.  It  is  the  business  of 
the  common  schools  to  lay  broad  foundations,  to 
awaken  all  those  varieties  of  interest  in  the  leading 
fields  of  knowledge  which  will  serve  to  make  him 
liberal-minded,  public-spirited,  of  many-sided  intelli- 
gence and  sympathy  in  his  adult  life. 

Unquestionably  the  lives  of  most  people  run  in  too 
narrow  a  channel.  They  fail  to  appreciate  and  enjoy 
many  of  the  common  and  important  things  about 
them  to  which  their  eyes  were  not  properly  opened 
in  early  years.  The  school  cannot  carry  a  child  very 
far  into  any  field  of  knowledge.  The  best  it  can  do 
is  to  open  up  the  subject  in  an  interesting  way,  to 
give  elementary  ideas  about  it,  and  to  awaken  a  curi- 
osity which  will  lead  him  in  the  future  to  seize  upon 
further  opportunities  for  extending  his  knowledge. 
In  this  sense  every  child  in  the  public  schools  should 
be  trained  to  a  many-sided  interest  and  curiosity. 
He  has  a  right  to  claim  those  universal  elements  of 
culture  in  history,  science,  literature,  music,  art,  physi- 
cal development,  and  social  training  which  may  be 
considered  the  birthright  of  all  children. 


INTEREST  123 

The  trade  school,  the  polytechnic  institute,  and  the 
professional  school  can  afford  to  specialize,  to  prepare 
for  a  narrow  vocation.  The  common  school,  on  the 
contrary,  is  preparing  all  children  for  general  citizen- 
ship. The  narrowing  idea  of  a  trade  or  calling  should 
be  kept  away  from  the  common  school,  and  as  far  as 
possible  varied  interests  in  knowledge  should  be 
awakened  in  every  child. 

There  is  reason  for  believing  that  most  children 
are  capable  of  taking  strong  interest  in  many  kinds 
of  study.  If  the  nascent  periods  of  interest  are  not 
used,  if  the  boy  has  no  opportunity  to  hunt  and  fish, 
at  the  time  in  boyhood  when  this  impulse  is  strong, 
the  chances  are  that  he  will  have  no  interest  in  hunt- 
ing and  fishing  in  later  years.  If  he  has  no  chance 
to  read  the  story  of  ''Sinbad  the  Sailor,"  of  "  Jack  and 
the  Bean-stalk,"  of  "Rip  Van  Winkle,"  at  the  time  in 
childhood  when  these  would  delight  him,  he  will 
not  only  show  no  interest  in  them  in  later  years, 
but  he  will  be  heard  narrowly  carping  at  th^m  as 
nonsense. 

The  preference  which  some  children  show  for  some 
branches  and  dislike  for  others  may  be  wholly  due  to 
peculiar  early  surroundings  and  influences,  to  neglect 
of  cultivation  at  the  proper  time ;  or  it  may  be  due 
to  good  or  poor  teaching  as  much  as  to  natural  pref- 
erences and  gifts.  Our  assumption  is,  therefore, 
that  children  are  not  so  radically  different  from 
one  another,  not  by  nature  so  strongly  bent  toward 


124  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

one  subject  and  disinclined  toward  another,  as  has 
been  often  supposed. 

Every  child  has  more  or  less  sympathy  and  inter- 
est for  companions  and  surrounding  people  in  the 
home  and  neighborhood,  and  on  this  is  based  the 
interest  of  a  child  in  story,  biography,  poem,  drama, 
and  history.  So,  also,  the  indifference  to  plant  and 
animal  life  shown  by  many  persons  may  be  due  to  a 
lack  of  suitable  suggestion  and  proper  culture  at  an 
impressionable  age.  Children  living  in  the  country 
very  frequently  show  little  or  no  interest  in  the  beau- 
ties of  nature»and  the  attractions  of  country  life,  but, 
if  they  are  in  companionship  with  their  parents  who 
take  appreciative  notice  of  such  things,  they  quickly 
respond  to  these  suggestions  and  develop  a  strong 
and  abiding  interest. 

The  dull  and  irksome  drills,  the  unskilful  ap- 
proaches to  school  studies,  the  blunders  of  teachers 
in  making  subjects  confused  and  uninteresting,  will 
account  in  a  large  measure  for  the  inveterate  dislike 
which  many  children  take  for  some  of  their  studies. 
Generally  speaking,  therefore,  it  seems  reasonable 
to  assume  that  most  children  are  capable  of  develop- 
ing a  many-sided  interest  in  the  leading  educational 
subjects. 

The  culture  of  the  many-sided  interests  is  essential 
to  a  full  development  and  perfection  of  the  mental 
activities.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  interest  in  any  sub- 
ject gives  all  thought  upon  it  a  greater  vigor  and 


INTEREST  125 

intensity.  Mental  action  in  all  directions  is  thus 
strengthened  and*  vivified.  To  the  educator  it  is 
always  a  pleasure  to  see  the  child  so  absorbed  in  his 
play,  his  construction  of  a  house  or  boat,  or  in  the 
reading  of  a  book  that  his  mind  is  oblivious  of  other 
things  and  it  is  difficult  to  gain  his  attention.  On 
the  other  hand,  mental  Ufe  diminishes  with  the  loss 
of  interest,  and  even  in  fields  of  knowledge  in  which 
a  man  has  displayed  unusual  mastery,  a  loss  of  inter- 
est is  followed  by  a  loss  of  energy.  Excluding  inter- 
est is  like  cutting  off  the  circulation  from  a  limb. 

Perfect  vigor  of  thought,  which  we  aim  at  in  edu- 
cation, is  marked  by  strength  along  three  lines,  — the 
vigor  of  the  individual  ideas,  the  extent  and  variety 
of  ideas  under  control,  and  the  connection  and  har- 
mony of  ideas.  It  is  one  of  the  highest  general  aims 
of  education  to  strengthen  mental  vigor  in  these 
directions.  Many-sided  interest  is  conducive  to  all 
three.  Every  thought  that  finds  lodgement  in  the 
mind  is  toned  up  and  strengthened  by  interest.  It 
is  also  easier  to  retain  and  reproduce  an  idea  that  has 
been  grasped  with  a  full  tide  of  feeling.  An  interest 
that  has  been  developed  along  all  leading  lines  of 
study  has  a  proper  breadth  and  comprehensiveness, 
and  cannot  be  hampered  and  clogged  by  narrow 
restraints  and  prejudice.  We  admire  a  person  not 
simply  because  he  has  a  few  clear  and  vigorous  ideas, 
but  also  for  the  extent  and  variety  of  this  sort  of 
knowledge.      Our    admiration   is   checked  when  he 


126  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

shows  ignorance  or  prejudice  or  lack  of  sympathy 
with  important  branches  of  study.  Finally,  the  con- 
necting links,  the  unity  and  harmony  of  the  various 
kinds  of  knowledge,  are  a  source  of  great  interest, 
power,  and  utility.  The  tracing  of  causal  and  other 
connections  between  different  studies,  and  the  com- 
manding insight  that  comes  from  proper  association, 
are  among  the  highest  delights  of  learning.  The 
connection  and  harmony  of  ideas  is  discussed  under 
concentration  or  correlation. 

The  discussion  of  the  sources  of  interest  has  led  us 
into  a  profound  problem,  or  triple  problem :  ( i )  to 
determine  the  succession  of  powerful  instinctive  inter- 
est in  childhood  ;  (2)  to  bring  to  light  the  best  culture 
materials  in  the  world's  history  for  school  use ;  (3)  to 
discover  the  kinship  between  child  and  race  develop- 
ment. The  effort  to  classify  interests  has  made  clear 
the  variety  and  depth  of  the  sources  from  which  true 
interest  springs.  Child  study  and  the  broader  intro- 
duction of  the  principle  of  industrial  and  social  activ- 
ity have  given  us  a  deeper  grasp  of  the  principle  of 
interest  as  self -activity. 

The  emphasis  of  many-sided  interest  gives  us  the 
conception  of  the  well-balanced  mind,  the  mind  in 
proper  equipoise,  but  stimulated  to  vigorous  activity 
along  all  essential  lines.  These  considerations  lead 
us  to  conjecture  that  the  emotional  element  which 
we  call  interest  is  an  important  ingredient  of  knowl- 
edge, that  it  depends  much  upon  other  important 


INTEREST  127 

elements,  and  that  it  in  turn  greatly  strengthens  the 
other  principles  of  mental  life. 

We  will  now  take  up  the  conditions  which  are 
favorable  to  interest,  which  are  preliminary  to  its 
proper  rise  and  development.  First,  we  may  mention 
the  healthy,  wholesome  bodily  condition.  Physical 
health  and  vigor  have  often  been  emphasized  as  a 
condition  preceding  all  forms  of  smooth  mental 
action,  but  perhaps,  in  considering  the  emotional  life, 
we  may  find  it  more  directly  conditioned  by  healthy 
bodily  state  than  the  intellectual  activities.  Oster- 
mann  says,  " '  Mens  sana  in  sano  corpore '  holds  not 
less  true  in  regard  to  the  emotional  life  than  it 
does  in  regard  to  the  intellect.  The  normal  suscep- 
tibility of  mind,  and  the  development  of  a  healthy 
emotional  life  greatly  depend  on  the  soundness  of 
the  body.  Irregularities  in  the  state  of  the  health 
of  the  body  are,  as  a  rule,  followed  by  diseased 
states  of  the  feelings,  by  feelings  of  ill-temper,  of 
overexcitement,  fatigue,  etc.,  and  these  hamper  and 
disturb  the  free  development  of  those  very  feelings 
and  interests  which  instruction  is  to  awaken.  What 
the  school,  for  its  part,  can  contribute  to  the  preser- 
vation of  health  is,  before  all  things,  this  —  that  in 
its  requirements  of  the  pupil  it  observe  the  proper 
measure.  Owing  to  the  intimate  correlation  existing 
between  the  psychical  and  physical  processes  every 
excess  of  mental  exertion  is  immediately  followed  by 
disturbance  of  the  physical  organism. 


128  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

"To  this  may  be  added  the  bad  effects  resulting 
from  want  of  exercise  unavoidably  connected  with 
the  overburdening  of  the  schools — diminished  breath- 
ing, disturbances  in  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  indi- 
gestion, etc.  —  things  that  necessarily  cause  much 
physical  and  mental  uneasiness.  Woe  to  the  school 
that  by  excessive  demands  becomes  guilty  of  such 
deplorable  results.  It  not  only  undermines  the 
health  of  the  children,  but  also  deprives  itself  of  the 
cream  of  its  educational  success.  'Cheerfulness,' 
says  Jean  Paul,  '  is  the  sky  under  which  everything 
thrives,  poison  excepted ;  it  is,  at  once,  the  soil  and 
the  blossom  of  virtue.  Joyfulness,  that  feeling  of  a 
wholly  untrammelled  nature  and  life,  opens  the  child's 
mind  to  take  in  the  universe,  causes  all  youthful 
powers  to  rise  like  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun,  and 
gives  strength,  whereas  strength  is  taken  away  by 
sadness.' 

"  Moreover,  the  school  should  bear  in  mind  this : 
that  only  the  healthy,  fresh,  and  cheerful  mind  of 
the  child  will  disclose  itself  to  the  ideal  effects  of 
instruction  with  the  proper  susceptibility  and  joyful- 
ness, and  only  in  such  a  mind  will  that  lively  interest 
in  everything  good,  such  as  is  required  for  the  foun- 
dation of  all  virtue,  grow  and  bear  fruit.  The  school, 
therefore,  in  destroying  that  natural  cheerfulness  by 
excessive  demands  upon  the  working  faculty  of  the 
child,  obstructs  its  own  way  to  the  heart  of  the 
child  and  ties  the  arteries  of  all  successful  educa- 


INTEREST  129 

tional  influence."  "  Interest  in  its  Relation  to  Peda- 
gogy."    Ostermann.     Pages  94-96. 

The  possibility  of  interesting  children  at  any  given 
age,  or  who  stand  at  the  same  stage  of  mental  growth, 
is  made  dependent  upon  the  presentation  of  appro- 
priate knowledge.  The  same  child  in  different  stages 
of  his  growth  is  interested  in  quite  different  things. 
We  have  already  observed  how  important  is  the  prob- 
lem of  discovering  the  successive  rise  of  instinctive 
interests  in  childhood.  It  is  gradually  becoming 
established  as  a  canon  among  teachers  that  we  must 
find  for  each  period  materials  which,  in  their  ver}'' 
nature,  have  power  to  interest  a  child.  Interest  be- 
comes thus  a  good  test  of  the  adaptabiUty  of  knowl- 
edge. When  any  subject  is  brought  to  the  attention 
of  a  child  at  the  right  age,  in  any  suitable  manner,  it 
awakens  in  him  a  natural  and  lively  feeling. 

It  is  evident  that  certain  kinds  of  knowledge  are 
not  adapted  to  a  boy  at  the  age  of  ten.  He  cares 
nothing  about  political  science,  or  medicine,  or  states- 
manship, or  the  history  of  literature.  These  things 
may  be  profoundly  interesting  to  a  person  two  or 
three  times  aa  old,  but  not  to  him.  Other  things, 
however,  — the  story  of  Ulysses,  travel,  animals,  geog- 
raphy, and  history,  even  arithmetic,  —  may  be  very 
attractive  to  a  boy  of  ten.  It  becomes  a  matter  of 
importance  to  select  those  studies  and  parts  of  studies 
for  children,  at  their  changing  periods  of  growth, 
which  are  adapted   to  awaken   and   stimulate   their 


130  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

minds.  We  shall  be  saved  then  from  doing  what 
the  best  educators  have  so  frequently  condemned; 
namely,  when  the  child  asks  for  bread  give  him  a 
stone,  or  when  he  asks  for  fish  give  him  a  serpent. 

The  neglect  to  take  cognizance  of  this  principle  of 
interest  in  laying  out  courses  of  study,  and  in  the 
manner  of  presenting  subjects,  is  certainly  one  of  the 
gravest  charges  that  ever  can  be  brought  against 
the  schools.  It  is  a  sure  sign  that  teachers  do  not 
know  what  it  means  to  **  put  yourself  in  his  place," 
to  sympathize  with  children  and  feel  their  needs. 
The  educational  reformers  who  have  had  deepest 
insight  into  child-life,  have  given  us  clear  and  pro- 
found warnings.  Rousseau  says  :  "  Study  children, 
for  be  sure  you  do  not  understand  them.  Let  child- 
hood ripen  in  children.  The  wisest  apply  themselves 
to  what  it  is  important  to  men  to  know,  without  con- 
sidering what  children  are  in  a  condition  to  learn. 
They  are  always  seeking  the  man  in  the  child,  with- 
out reflecting  what  he  is  before  he  can  be  a  man." 

It  is  easy  to  demand  of  teachers  that  they  select 
suitable  interesting  lessons  for  each  grade ;  but  it  is 
very  difficult  if  not  impossible  at  times  to  meet  this 
requirement.  It  is  worth  the  trouble  to  inquire 
whether  it  is  possible  or  not  to  select  subjects  for 
school  study  which  will  prove  essentially  attractive 
and  interesting  from  the  age  of  six  on.  Occasionally 
a  teacher  is  found  who  possesses  the  power,  even 
with  our  present  course  of  study,  to  hold  the  children 


INTEREST  131 

steadily  with  interested  attention.  We  know  that 
fairy  stories  appeal  directly  to  children  in  the  first 
and  second  grade.  They  enjoy  reproducing  them, 
and  drawing  pictures  by  way  of  blackboard  illustra- 
tion. The  working  out  of  reading  lessons  in  connec- 
tion with  these  tales  is  spirited.  At  least  reading  a 
familiar  story  is  a  more  interesting  employment  than 
working  at  the  almost  meaningless  sentences  of  a 
chart  or  first  reader.  Even  number  work,  when 
based  upon  the  measurement  of  objects  used  in  con- 
nection with  the  construction  of  boxes  or  as  a  help  to 
accurate  paper  folding,  is  made  to  command  the 
attention  of  little  ones.  They  love  to  see  and  talk 
about  pictures,  plants,  flowers,  and  animals.  It  requires 
probably  as  much  skill  to  awaken  and  hold  the  in- 
terest in  the  first  grade  as  in  any  of  the  higher  grades, 
unless  the  older  children  have  been  thoroughly  dulled 
by  bad  instruction  and  have  fallen  into  fixed  habits 
of  listlessness. 

On  what  principles  is  it  possible  to  select  both 
interesting  and  valuable  materials  for  the  successive 
grades .''  We  will  venture  a  partial  answer  to  this 
difficult  question.  It  has  been  known  of  old  that  the 
main  interest  of  children  must  be  attracted  by  what 
we  may  call  the  real  knowledge  subjects;  that  is, 
those  dealing  with  objective  things,  such  as  animals, 
industries,  plants,  storms,  and  all  sorts  of  natural 
objects  and  phenomena.  All  these  things  children 
can  get  at  directly  through  their  senses  or  through 


132    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

their  imagination,  which  they  are  quick  to  employ. 
From  some  cause  or  other  the  native  interests  of 
children  spring  up  and  are  vividly  stimulated  by 
these  concrete  and  realistic  things.  As  an  immediate 
consequence  of  this,  it  is  a  fact  well  established  by 
experience  that  children  are  more  touched  and  stim- 
ulated by  particular  persons  and  objects  in  nature 
than  by  any  general  propositions  or  laws  or  classifica- 
tions. They  prefer  seeing  and  examining  a  particular 
palm  tree  to  hearing  a  general  description  of  palms, 
no  matter  how  fluent  and  graphic  the  description 
may  be.  They  prefer  a  detailed  account  of  Peter  the 
Great  when  he  worked  as  a  ship's  carpenter  in  Hol- 
land to  any  general  description  of  his  characteris- 
tics as  a  statesman  and  ruler.  A  narrative  of  some 
special  deed  of  kindness,  like  that  of  Lincoln  in  the 
reprieve  of  the  young  soldier  who  was  condemned  to 
death  for  sleeping  at  his  post,  is  more  interesting  and 
effective  than  a  discourse  on  kindness  and  sympathy. 
Children  feel  a  natural  drawing  toward  definite  per- 
sons and  things  and  an  indifference  and  repulsion 
toward  generalities.  They  prefer  the  story  to  the 
moral.  They  are  little  materialists  dwelling  in  a 
sense  world  or  in  a  world  of  imagination,  with  very 
clear,  definite,  and  pleasing  pictures. 

Stronger  still  than  the  interest  in  mere  objects  of 
any  sort  is  the  delight  in  those  activities  in  which  the 
boy  works  out  his  own  problems  and  constructive 
tendencies,  such  as  the  building  of  a  cave  in  imitation 


INTEREST  133 

of  Robinson  Crusoe,  or  of  a  tree  house,  the  construc- 
tion of  a  telephonic  connection  with  some  neighbor 
boy,  the  making  in  the  workshop  of  a  writing-desk, 
with  pigeon  holes  and  a  folding  shelf,  to  be  used 
in  his  own  room  at  home,  fashioning  tepees  and 
canoes  and  playing  the  Indian,  or  girls  representing 
Cinderella  in  a  dramatic  scene,  making  a  work-basket 
for  the  sewing  room,  etc.  The  surprising  interest 
shown  by  children  in  the  manual  training  work  when 
they  are  allowed,  under  wise  guidance  and  suggestion, 
to  make  the  things  which  they  of  their  own  volition 
wish  to  use  or  give  as  presents,  such  as  sleds,  work 
benches,  traps,  desks,  footstools,  nail  boxes,  letter 
files,  etc.,  is  a  fruitful  suggestion  to  teachers. 

It  may  not  appear  at  first  sight  that  these  things 
bear  closely  on  school  work,  but  their  close  relation 
to  many  school  and  home  needs,  their  use  in  illustrat- 
ing topics  in  geography,  history,  and  science,  their 
training  of  the  motor  and  constructive  activities,  and 
their  encouragement  of  voluntary  enterprise  in  chil- 
dren will  recommend  them  more  and  more  to  the 
thoughtful  teacher. 

This  ability  to  select  materials  of  study  adapted  to 
interest  children  implies  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  them,  an  appreciation  of  their  likes  and  dis- 
positions at  given  ages,  of  their  games  and  chosen 
activities,  and  of  things  in  which  their  preferences 
and  desires  centre. 

This  brings  us  to  the  third  condition  preliminary 


134         THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

to  interest,  the  previous  experiences  and  acquired 
knowledge  which  the  child  employs  as  a  basis  of 
operations  in  acquiring  any  new  experience,  or,  using 
a  terminology  which  has  recently  come  into  vogue, 
the  masses  of  apperceiving  ideas  which  are  neces- 
sary, not  only  to  interest  in  a  new  subject,  but  to  the 
understanding.  It  is  now  well  understood  that  we 
do  not  acquire  most  of  our  knowledge  directly,  but 
through  the  mediation  or  active  agency  of  previous 
knowledge  and  experience.  We  need  only  to  refer 
to  our  discussion  of  apperception  to  remind  ourselves 
how  potent  are  these  knowledges  in  seizing  upon 
new  experience. 

Very  much  depends  upon  the  emotional  temper 
with  which  we  approach  any  new  topic.  Often- 
times the  mind  of  a  child  stubbornly  balks  at  the 
first  glance  of  a  new  subject  or  lesson,  because  the 
thing  stands  there  so  senseless  and  blank,  because  no 
connective  interpretation  shoots  across  from  the  old 
to  the  new,  lighting  it  up  with  meaning  and  produc- 
ing a  glow  of  interested  feeUng.  Instead  of  this 
the  mind  is  flooded  with  a  feeling  of  irritation  and 
even  anger.  The  child  stands  stock-still  in  his  pout- 
ing grief,  and  it  is  necessary  for  the  teacher,  not  to 
move  forward,  but  first  to  extricate  the  victim  from 
the  slough  of  despond,  to  get  back  again  on  to  solid 
ground,  and  then  start  out  afresh  with  a  new  impulse. 
This  is  a  jerking,  wrenching,  temper-ruining  method 
of  acquiring  knowledge.     We  need  less  friction  and 


INTEREST  135 

a  smoother,  more  exhilarating  forward  movement  in 
learning.  The  instant  pleasure  with  which  a  child 
grasps  a  new  problem  as  a  modified  case  of  some- 
thing already  familiar,  the  mental  leap  into  the  new 
jungle  with  the  conscious  feeling  that  there  is  a  light 
and  open  space  just  ahead,  — this  is  the  true  mental 
attitude  in  learning.  It  is  easily  within  the  power 
of  the  teacher  who  understands  the  children  and  the 
subject,  who  can,  by  sympathy,  put  himself  in  the 
child's  place  and  see  the  new  subject  with  the  child's 
experience,  can  touch  those  points  of  connection 
between  new  and  old  by  which  a  child's  interest  and 
intelligence  are  simultaneously  awakened.  It  is 
evident  that  interest  plays  like  a  swift  shuttle  back 
and  forth  between  his  inner  self,  his  accumulated 
stock  of  notions,  and  the  oncoming  host  of  new  ideas 
and  experiences.  But  interest  depends  upon  ideas 
and  upon  the  intelligent  connections  established 
between  them.  Intelligence,  however,  can  move 
scarcely  an  inch  forward  unless  interest  is  close  upon 
its  heels  or  jogging  its  elbows. 

It  is  in  the  thick  of  the  conflict,  in  these  successive 
crises  of  instruction,  that  the  teacher  needs  skill  in 
method.  The  study  of  apperception,  in  its  multi- 
tudinous examples,  illustrating  always  a  simple  com- 
mon principle,  will  help  him  to  get  the  right  point  of 
view,  the  sympathetic  attitude,  the  keen  perception 
for  connections  and  interpretations,  and  especially 
an  understanding  of  the  emotional  states,  which,  if 


136    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

properly  aroused,  furnish  the  lubricating  oil  which 
gives  an  unclogged  movement  to  the  mental  machin- 
ery. Interest  is  greatly  dependent  upon  the  smooth 
process  of  apperception. 

It  is  commonly  stated  that  interest  is  dependent 
upon  the  will.  When  by  a  distinct  exercise  of  will 
power  we  fix  the  attention  upon  some  topic,  even 
though  at  first  it  be  uninteresting,  the  mind  becomes 
preoccupied  with  it  and  interest  is  awakened.  Even 
in  a  difficult  problem  in  arithmetic,  which  the  boy 
approaches  with  evident  dislike,  as  soon  as  his  mind 
becomes  involved  in  its  particulars,  he  acquires  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  interest.  The  desire  to  solve  its  diffi- 
culties is  awakened,  'and  by  the  time  he  has  worked 
out  a  correct  result,  he  attains  to  a  distinct  feehng  of 
gratification.  This  form  of  will  effort  by  which  the 
mind  is  turned,  directed,  and  concentrated  upon  some 
new  object  of  thought,  whether  it  be  interesting  or 
not,  gives  us  the  well-known  voluntary  attention. 

The  relation  of  interest  to  voluntary  attention  is 
one  of  the  most  attractive  and  significant  problems 
in  pedagogy.  William  James  says :  "  Whoever 
treats  of  interest,  inevitably  treats  of  attention,  for 
to  say  that  an  object  is  interesting,  is  only  another 
way  of  saying  it  excites  attention.  But  in  addition 
to  the  attention  which  any  object  already  interesting 
or  just  becoming  interesting  claims,  —  passive  atten- 
tion or  spontaneous  attention,  we  may  call  it,  —  there 
is  a  more  deliberate  attention,  —  voluntary  attention 


INTEREST  137 

or  attention  with  effort,  as  it  is  called,  —  which  we 
can  give  to  objects  less  interesting  or  uninteresting 
in  themselves."  People  have  been  accustomed  to 
suppose  that  the  power  of  sustained  attention  was 
dependent  upon  this  will  effort,  that  steady  attention 
to  a  subject  is  a  result  of  a  steady  pressure  of  the 
will.  James  says  further :  "  But  a  little  introspec- 
tive observation  will  show  any  one  that  voluntary 
attention  cannot  be  continuously  sustained  —  that 
it  comes  in  beats-.  When  we  are  studying  an  unin- 
teresting subject,  if  our  minds  tend  to  wander,  we 
have  to  bring  back  our  attention  every  now  and  then 
by  using  distinct  pulses  of  efforts,  which  revivify 
the  topic  for  a  moment ;  the  mind  then  running  on 
for  a  certain  number  of  seconds  or  minutes  with 
spontaneous  interest,  until  again  some  intercurrent 
idea  catches  it  and  takes  it  off.  Then  the  process 
of  volitional  recall  must  be  repeated  once  more. 
Voluntary  attention,  in  short,  is  only  a  momentary 
affair.  The  process,  whatever  it  is,  exhausts  itself 
in  the  single  act;  and,  unless  the  matter  is  then 
taken  in  hand  by  some  trace  of  interest  inherent  in 
the  subject,  the  mind  fails  to  follow  it  at  all.  Volun- 
tary attention  is  thus  an  instantaneous  affair.  You 
can  claim  it  for  your  purposes  in  the  schoolroom 
by  commanding  it  in  loud  and  imperious  tones,  and 
you  can  easily  get  it  in  this  way.  But  unless  the 
subject  to  which  you  call  their  attention  has  inherent 
power  to  interest  the  pupils,  you  will  have  got  it  for 


138    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

only  a  brief  moment,  and  their  minds  will  soon  be 
wandering  again.  To  keep  them  where  you  have 
called  them  you  must  make  the  subject  too  interest- 
ing for  them  to  wander  again."  "Talks  to  Teachers 
and  Students."     William  James.     Pages  100-103. 

From  this  statement  we  are  able  to  see  the  func- 
tion of  the  will  in  giving  the  first  impulse  to  the  act  of 
attention,  and,  in  case  the  attention  relaxes,  to  bring- 
ing this  voluntary  effort  to  bear  to  drag  the  atten- 
tion back  again  on  to  the  right  track.  John  Adams  of 
Scotland  says  :  "  Attention,  as  the  psychologists  have 
it,  is  inhibition.  We  do  not  really  direct  our  attention 
to  this  or  that  object ;  we  simply  call  it  off  from  other 
objects." 

We  can  scarcely  overestimate  the  power  and  im- 
portance of  the  will  in  thus  giving  the  initiative  to 
every  important  line  of  thought  and  effort,  also  in 
excluding  unrelated  topics,  no  matter  how  much  they 
press  for  acceptance,  and  in  bringing  the  mind  back 
again  to  its  duty  whenever  it  shies  off  into  by-paths. 

We  see,  therefore,  that  there  is  a  number  of  pre- 
liminaries and  predispositions  which  condition  the 
rise  and  continuance  of  the  feeling  of  interest  in 
school  exercises.  First  is  a  wholesome,  healthy, 
bodily  status;  second,  knowledge  selected  for  its 
adaptability  to  awaken  spontaneous  interest;  third, 
the  skilful  use  of  familiar  previous  experiences,  of 
the  strong  apperceiving  masses  of  knowledge  in  the 
mind  —  this  implies  a  sympathetic  and  expert  method 


INTEREST 


^•^TR  ARTS. 
f  OF  THE  A 

I  OF  ^J 

on  the  teacher's  part;  fourth,  the  will,' which  gives 
the  first  direction  and  impulse  in  the  mental  attack, 
and  issues  sharp  commands  from  time  to  time  in  the 
call  to  pressing  duty. 

We  are  prepared  now  to  ask.  How  does  the  feel- 
ing of  interest  influence  and  tell  upon  the  other 
mental  activities  in  the  process  of  knowledge-getting? 

In  reading  a  poem  like  **  The  Lady  of  the  Lake  "  or 
the  speech  of  Edmund  Burke  on  "  Conciliation  with 
America,"  we  observe  that  any  phrase  or  passage 
which  strikes  us  with  peculiar  force  and  gives  us 
distinct  pleasure  is  remembered  without  effort.  In 
reading  the  dramas  of  Shakespeare,  or  in  seeing 
them  represented  on  the  stage,  those  parts  which 
appeal  most  strongly  to  the  emotions  afterward  come 
springing  back  into  the  memory,  while  any  poem 
like  Young's  "  Night  Thoughts  "  or  parts  of  Words- 
worth's "  Excursion,"  which  one  has  read  over  with- 
out interest,  fade  out  of  thought  before  the  page  is 
finished.  We  have  noticed  before  that  a  little  child 
will  often  memorize  a  poem  without  conscious  effort, 
because  it  is  pleasing  and  delightful ;  but  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  multiply  examples  of  such  common 
experience.  We  may  assume  that  a  keen  interest 
quickens  the  mental  powers,  and  gives  an  intensity 
to  mental  effort  which  can  be  acquired  in  no  other 
way.  The  most  intense  exertions  of  the  will  fail  to 
bring  an  object  into  such  cohesive  touch  with  the 
memory  as  a  quickening  interest  with  no  apparent 


I40         THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

effort  of  the  will  at  all.  William  James  suggests 
that  the  common  notion  that  the  genius  is  the 
man  of  unusual  power  in  sustained  will  effort  is  a 
mistake.  He  says :  "  The  minds  of  geniuses  are 
full  of  copious  and  original  associations.  The  sub- 
ject of  thought,  once  started,  develops  all  sorts  of 
consequences.  The  attention  is  led  along  one  of 
these  to  another  in  the  most  interesting  manner, 
and  the  attention  never  once  tends  to  stray  away. 
A  genius  is  the  man  in  whom  we  are  the  least 
likely  to  find  the  power  of  attending  to  anything 
insipid  or  distasteful  in  itself.  He  breaks  his  en- 
gagements, neglects  his  family  duties  incorrigibly, 
because  he  is  powerless  to  turn  his  attention  down 
and  back  from  those  more  interesting  trains  of 
imagery  with  which  his  genius  constantly  occupies 
his  mind." 

In  order  to  understand  the  relation  of  interest  to 
the  whole  mind's  action  in  acquiring  knowledge,  it 
is  necessary  to  examine  closely  the  relation  of  inter- 
est to  attention.  Some  distinguished  psychologists, 
like  Stumph,  have  claimed  that  interest  and  atten- 
tion are  identical,  and  the  relation  between  them  is 
certainly  so  close  that  the  sharpest  thinkers  have 
had  some  difficulty  in  distinguishing  between  them. 
G.  T.  Stout  says,  as  quoted  by  Adams,  "  The  coin- 
cidence of  interest  and  attention  is  simply  due  to  the 
fact  that  interest,  as  actually  felt  at  any  moment,  is 
nothing  but  attention  itself  considered  in  its  hedonic 


INTEREST  141 

aspect."  In  the  passage  previously  quoted  from 
James,  we  noticed  that  the  action  of  the  will  is 
instantaneous,  but  not  persistent  and  continuous, 
and  that  even  with  voluntary  attention  interest  must 
seize  and  carry  the  thought  forward,  or  attention 
wanders  and  ceases.  In  the  case  of  involuntary 
attention  the  act  of  attending  is  maintained  through- 
out by  interest.  It  may  be  clearly  seen,  therefore, 
that  the  feeling  of  interest  is  really  the  energy  that 
supports  attention  throughout.  Adams  says  :  "  Inter- 
est may  be  said  to  hold  the  same  relation  to  involun- 
tary attention  that  the  will  holds  to  voluntary.  In 
involuntary  attention  the  object  plays  the  leading 
part;  in  voluntary  attention,  the  soul."  Again  he 
says,  **  In  any  given  state  of  attention  the  less  the 
interest,  the  greater  the  amount  of  will  power  neces- 
sary to  maintain  it." 

The  maintenance  of  attention  by  direct  will  power 
is  a  consciously  heavy  strain.  The  maintenance  of 
attention  by  the  force  of  interest  is  exhilarating,  and 
almost  free  from  friction  and  strain.  If  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  economy  and  of  avoidance  of  wear  and  tear 
in  mental  action,  the  learning  of  a  lesson  with  inter- 
est is  far  superior  to  the  excessive  strain  of  sheer  will 
effort. 

But  if  the  mental  machinery  described  above  is 
correct,  if  the  continued  process  of  learning,  both 
in  the  voluntary  attention  and  in  the  involuntary, 
demands  the  steady  support  of  interest,  if  James  is 


142  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

right  in  saying  that  voluntary  attention  is  only  instan- 
taneous, then  the  learning  of  a  thing  by  sheer  will 
power  unattended  by  interest  is  impossible. 

It  seems  that  psychologists,  and  especially  peda- 
gogical thinkers,  until  more  recently,  have  attributed 
to  the  will  too  wide  and  constant  a  range  of  influence, 
have  made  other  forms  of  mental  action  merely  tribu- 
tary to  it,  simply  instruments  which  it  used,  such,  for 
example,  as  attention,  memory,  imagination,  judgment, 
and  reason.  In  this  way  the  will  has  been  loaded  up 
with  too  much  responsibility.  There  has  been  a  fail- 
ure to  analyze  sharply  the  helpful  relations  of  associ- 
ation of  ideas,  of  the  emotional  life,  of  apperception 
to  the  will.  We  have  failed  to  see  that  by  giving 
proper  importance  to  these  other  mental  functions 
sheer  will  could  be  relieved  of  a  large  part  of  its 
heavy  burden,  and  the  whole  mental  machinery  be 
made  to  move  with  greater  economy,  ease,  and 
effectiveness. 

If  the  strong  psychological  thinkers  of  the  present 
time  are  right  in  their  interpretation  of  these  mental 
activities  in  their  relation  to  the  will,  we  may  safely 
say  that  the  healthy  mechanism  of  the  mind  will  do 
three-fourths  of  the  work  which  has  been  usually 
attributed  to  pure  will. 

What  do  we  mean  by  saying  that  the  machinery  of 
the  mind  will  perform  this  work  and  relieve  the  heavy 
irksome  strain .''  Consider  again  the  idea  of  attention. 
Formerly  it  was  conceived  as  a  pointed  instrument 


INTEREST  143 

with  the  steady  force  of  will  behind  it,  driving  it 
through  difficulties.  Now  that  the  emotional  life  has 
been  brought  into  significance,  this  pointed  instrument 
is  impelled  by  the  quiet  steady  force  of  interest.  The 
strength  of  this  mechanism  is  better  understood  by 
considering  the  association  of  ideas  and  apperception. 
We  know  that  the  will  cannot  control  the  memory  at 
its  pleasure,  but  that  memory  is  determined  by  the 
habitual  lines  of  association  previously  formed.  The 
will  cannot  command  these  mental  resources  arbi- 
trarily, summoning  them  at  random  or  leaving  them 
undisturbed  as  it  pleases.  It  must  follow  the  estab- 
lished habits  of  association.  When  the  will  has  once 
centred  attention  upon  an  idea,  swiftly  this  idea 
leads  on  to  others  in  an  associated  series.  Interest 
is  awakened,  and  the  attention  is  carried  captive  so 
long  as  the  movement  continues  to  draw  new  objects 
into  view  with  their  attending  interests,  and  all  this 
without  the  voluntary  act  of  the  will.  This  is,  in 
part,  what  we  mean  by  the  mental  mechanism,  and 
by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  work  is  done  without 
the  presence  of  the  will.  A  somewhat  similar  ma- 
chinery of  mental  action  appears  in  the  process  of 
apperception  with  its  shuttlelike  inter-action  between 
the  old  and  the  new  ideas,  with  the  constant  awaken- 
ing of  feeling  and  strengthening  of  attention. 

James  says  in  his  chapter  on  association  of  ideas : 
"  Your  pupils,  whatever  else  they  are,  are  at  any  rate 
little  pieces  of  associating  machinery.     Their  educa- 


144  THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

tion  consists  in  the  organizing  within  them  of  de- 
terminate tendencies  to  associate  one  thing  with 
another,"  etc.  "  Those  laws  (of  association)  run  the 
mind  ;  interest  shifting  hither  and  thither  deflects  it, 
and  attention,  as  we  shall  later  see,  steers  it  and 
keeps  it  from  too  zigzag  a  course." 

If  our  arguments  are  correctly  based,  we  are  led 
to  draw  the  conclusion  that  interest,  when  present, 
intensifies  mental  effort  and  contributes  generously 
to  memory,  that  it  is  such  a  close  helper  to  attention 
that  some  psychologists  have  identified  it  with  atten- 
tion. In  this  identification,  or  lack  of  close  analyses, 
the  importance  of  interest  as  a  factor  has  been  over- 
looked. Interest,  like  Siegfried,  in  the  old  myth,  has 
been  left  out  of  the  count.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  King  Giinther,  in  his  contest  with  Brunhilde, 
had  the  support  of  the  invisible  Siegfried  at  his  side, 
and  it  was  Siegfried's  strength  that  carried  the  king 
to  easy  victory.  King  Giinther,  therefore,  received 
the  credit  for  success  in  the  contests,  though  Siegfried 
had  done  the  work.  Likewise,  will  has  secured  the 
credit  which  was  really  due  to  this  unrecognized 
force  of  interest.  We  conclude  further  that  the 
extravagant  influence  and  autonomy  of  the  will,  its 
overwhelming  duties  and  functions,  should  be  dis- 
tributed to  those  appropriate  parts  of  the  mental 
machinery  which  can  do  them  with  much  greater 
ease  and  less  friction.  There  was  a  time  when  all 
the    functions   of    government  were   centred   in   an 


INTEREST 


autocratic  sovereign,  but  with  growth  and  improve- 
ment in  government  these  functions  have  been  dis- 
tributed to  those  coordinate  divisions  which  we  call 
executive,  legislative,  and  judicial,  and  are  better 
performed  by  such  a  constitutional  machinery.  In 
an  analogous  way,  we  may  believe  that  the  all-domi- 
nant influence  of  the  will  in  all  the  lesser  details  of 
mental  action  is  beginning  to  yield  its  sway  to  those 
coordinate  branches  of  the  mental  organism  which 
are  now  seen  to  have  a  well-regulated  machinery 
of  their  own,  better  adapted  than  the  will  to  the 
performance  of  these  functions. 

We  may  summarize  the  positive  value  of  interest 
in  its  relation  to  other  mental  states  as  follows : 
Interest  is  the  feeUng  side  of  attention,  and  so  ener- 
gizes attention  as  to  produce  the  most  efficient 
memory  work.  Involuntary  attention  is  wholly  de- 
pendent upon  interest.  Little  children  learn  easily  by 
involuntary  attention,  but  have  almost  no  power  of 
voluntary  attention.  Even  in  the  voluntary  attention, 
interest  sustains  mental  action  between  the  longer 
pauses  left  by  the  instantaneous  pulses  of  will  effort. 
The  will,  therefore,  depends  for  smoothness  and 
effectiveness  upon  the  machinery  of  the  mind  sup- 
plied by  interest  and  the  association  of  ideas. 

Having  discussed  the  conditions  which  are  favor- 
able to  interest,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  re- 
enforcement  which  interest  brings  to  attention, 
memory,  and  will,  we  are  prepared  to  grapple  with 


146  THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

that  serious  and  oft-debated  question,  how  to  secure 
strong  and  steady  will  effort  in  encountering  difficul- 
ties, how  to  train  children  to  meet  disagreeable  and 
irksome  tasks.  There  seems  to  be  no  difference  of 
opinion  among  writers  and  teachers  as  to  the  result 
to  be  desired  and  attained.  Not  even  the  extreme 
advocates  of  pleasant  and  attractive  modes  of  instruc- 
tion would  have  the  hardihood  to  object  to  a  vigorous 
and  severe  discipline  which  hardens  the  mind  to  meet 
difficulties.  The  hardening  process,  by  which  the 
mind  is  steeled  to  encounter  disagreeable  and  irksome 
tasks,  has  been  a  favorite  dogma  with  schoolmasters 
for  so  many  generations,  and  has  been  so  influential 
in  determining  the  course  of  study,  that  we  shall  not 
easily  disturb  its  monopoly.  The  favorite  doctrine 
of  formal  discipline  also  has  been  behind  all  the 
schoolmaster's  work,  sustaining  every  demand  for 
hardship  and  rigor.  Moreover,  the  character  of  the 
studies  selected  for  children  made  it  impossible  to 
support  any  doctrine  of  interest  and  stick  to  the 
school  programme.  Even  as  recent  a  writer  as 
William  James  says:  "The  greater  part  of  school- 
room work,  you  say,  must,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
always  be  repulsive.  To  face  uninteresting  drudgery, 
is  a  good  part  of  life's  work.  Why  seek  to  eliminate 
it  from  the  schoolroom  or  minimize  the  sterner  law .? " 
Then  for  himself  he  says :  "  It  is  certain  that  most 
schoolroom  work,  till  it  has  become  habitual  and 
automatic,  is  repulsive,  and  cannot  be  done  without 


INTEREST  147 

voluntarily  jerking  back  the  attention  to  it  every  now 
and  then.  This  is  inevitable,  let  the  teacher  do  what 
he  will.  It  flows  from  the  inherent  nature  of  the 
subject  and  of  the  learning  mind." 

This  is  an  astonishing  statement,  but  one  which 
many  a  schoolmaster  may  be  found  to  sanction.  To 
one  who  has  been  accustomed  to  observe  the  rapt 
attention  and  pleasure  with  which  many  little  chil- 
dren in  the  first  and  second  grades  follow  the  reading 
exercises  (one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of 
primary  work)  this  statement  of  Professor  James 
may  seem  overdrawn.  Even  with  such  schools  and 
courses  of  study  as  we  now  have,  it  is  not  unusual 
to  find  an  intermediate  or  grammar  school  class 
thoroughly  interested  in  the  most  vigorous  work 
in  mental  arithmetic.  We  have  even  seen  a  skil- 
ful grammar  teacher  in  the  eighth  grade  with  an 
enthusiastic  class,  attentive  and  thinking  well,  in 
the  study  of  adjectives  or  modifiers  of  the  verb, 
not  because  the  teacher  invented  spicy  jokes,  but 
because  she  got  them  interested  in  the  meaning 
and  grammatical  relations.  Most  of  the  geography 
topics  now  taught  in  a  considerable  number  of  our 
schools  are  followed  and  mastered  by  the  children 
with  evident  pleasure.  They  are  full  of  interesting 
and  instructive  material  suited  to  the  age  and  compre- 
hension of  the  children.  The  biographical  stories 
now  taught  in  good  schools  in  intermediate  grades 
are  delightfully  instructive,  whether  handled  orally 


148  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

by  the  teacher  or  read  by  the  children,  and  the 
more  advanced  historical  work  in  the  grades  is  often 
studied  in  a  spirited,  appreciative  way. 

The  study  of  our  best  American  and  English 
classics  as  reading  lessons  in  all  grades  above  the 
primary,  has  worked  out  in  many  schools  such  satis- 
factory and  pleasing  results  with  children  that  the 
whole  body  of  thoughtful  teachers  has  been  en- 
couraged and  led  to  believe  that  we  have  found  an 
abundant  and  rich  material  of  study  upon  which  the 
best  sympathetic,  emotional  life  of  the  children  can 
be  strongly  cultivated.  High  ideals  both  moral  and 
aesthetic  are  formed,  together  with  a  heartfelt  interest 
in  such  choice  things  as  ■'  The  Village  Blacksmith," 
"Vision  of  Sir  Launfal,"  "The  Great  Stone  Face," 
"Snow  Bound,"  "The  Lady  of  the  Lake,"  "  Evan- 
geline," "  The  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin,"  "  Robinson 
Crusoe,"  "  Beauty  and  the  Beast,"  the  Bible  stories, 
"  The  Wonder  Book,"  "  Arabian  Nights,"  etc.  Many 
of  the  science  lessons  now  taught  in  the  primary 
schools  and  upward  are  all  that  can  be  desired  in 
the  way  of  pleasing  and  satisfactory  results.  In 
this  field  the  only  questions  that  now  trouble  us 
are  how  to  select  the  best  topics  and  how  to  equip 
ourselves  as  teachers  with  abundant  and  concrete 
knowledge  and  to  acquire  a  skilful  method  of  hand- 
ling the  interesting  material.  We  are  not  so  irrev- 
erent as  to  say  that  nature  study  with  children  is 
for  the  most  part  essentially  repulsive. 


INTEREST  149 

In  going  into  a  manual  training  room,  where  chil- 
dren were  engaged  in  making  things  of  some  sig- 
nificance and  worth  to  themselves,  many  an  old 
school  superintendent  has  been  astonished  at  the 
complete  absorption  of  the  workers  in  their  different 
tasks.  Any  one  must  be  doubly  blind  who  would 
say  these  are  "dumb  driven  cattle"  plodding  away 
at  their  repulsive  tasks.  The  fact  is,  that  Dr.  James 
is  so  delightfully  interesting  as  a  lecturer  and  writer 
that  he  is  a  positive  and  convincing  illustration  of 
the  opposite  theory.  Under  his  luminous  treatment, 
even  as  supposedly  dull  a  subject  as  the  application 
of  psychology  to  pedagogy  coruscates  with  flashing 
elements  of  intrinsic  interest.  Dr.  James  is  not  a 
pessimist,  and  the  passages  above  quoted  are  out 
of  harmony  with  numerous  passages  that  could  be 
quoted  from  his  book  as  well  as  with  the  general 
tone  of  his  whole  treatment. 

But  this  striking  statement  that  "most  school 
work,  until  it  has  become  habitual  and  automatic, 
is  repulsive  "  is  the  platform  or  rather  the  unshakable 
foundation  (because  a  platform  sometimes  can  be 
broken  down)  upon  which  that  large  body  of  teachers 
stand  with  whom  interest  is  identical  with  "  soft 
pedagogy,"  as  Dr.  James  calls  it,  and  who  do  not 
believe  that  the  school  studies  have  any  considerable 
amount  of  intrinsic  interest  for  children. 

The  phrase,  "until  it  has  become  habitual  and 
automatic,"  suggests  plainly  the  difference  in  point 


150  THE   ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

of  view  between  the  two  schools.  First  master  the 
studies  of  the  school  till  they  become  habitual  and 
automatic,  then  they  will  cease  to  be  repulsive. 
This  means  practically  the  whole  work  of  the 
school.  Those  who  believe  in  the  doctrine  of 
interest  think  that  the  highest  satisfaction  that  chil- 
dren can  know  is  in  the  very  process  of  acquiring 
and  mastering  their  studies.  The  school  subjects 
themselves,  if  properly  selected  and  approached, 
have  inherent  power  to  attract  and  interest  the 
children.  The  mediaeval  point  of  view  is  well 
illustrated  by  Latin  study.  No  one  would  have  the 
hardihood  to  claim  that  boys  studying  Latin  vocabu- 
laries, rules,  and  syntax,  would  find  much  interest  the 
first  two  or  three  years.  But  when  they  have 
mastered  the  grammar  and  vocabularies  and  can 
read  the  simpler  authors  easily  (Latin  having  become 
habitual  and  automatic),  they  begin  to  catch  the  spirit 
and  power  of  the  author  and  become  interested. 

Does  the  theory  of  Latin  study  of  three  hundred 
years  ago,  by  which  children  must  spend  three  or 
four  years  in  wearisome  toil,  unrelieved  by  interest, 
before  reaching  any  easement  in  their  work  —  does 
this  theory  apply  to  our  modern  school  course }  On 
the  contrary,  children  coming  into  the  school  at  six 
years  with  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language,  are 
introduced  at  once  to  many  of  the  choicest  stories  and 
poems  of  English  literature.  From  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  first  grade  they  are  brought  face  to  face 


INTEREST  1 5  I 

with  flowers  and  insects,  with  the  blossoming  trees, 
singing  birds,  and  with  many  other  equally  attractive 
objects  in  nature.  They  are  set  to  work  at  simple 
crude  blackboard  drawings  and  constructive  effort  in 
paper  folding,  weaving  mats,  scissor  work,  clay  mould- 
ing, house  building,  etc.,  which  gives  them  happy 
educative  employment.  Even  the  so-called  formal 
exercises  of  learning  to  read,  write,  and  spell,  are 
relieved  by  simple  and  interesting  stories  and  games, 
which  derive  some  of  the  joyful  spirit  from  contact 
with  thought  matter  of  real  worth.  In  our  better 
schools  we  are  as  far  away  from  the  dull  mechanical 
exercises  of  one  or  two  generations  ago  as  the  steam 
engine  is  distant  from  the  stage-coach. 

Many  schoolmasters  and  book-makers  have  been 
so  enamored  of  the  doctrine  of  hardship  and  distress 
in  learning,  that  they  have  deemed  it  one  of  their 
highest  functions  to  invent  artificial  difficulties,  there 
not  being  sufficient  of  these  in  the  natural  course  of 
school  affairs.  One  of  the  German  writers,  as  quoted 
by  Paulsen,  says  that  one  of  the  peculiar  merits  in 
the  study  of  Latin  as  taught  in  his  time  was,  that  it 
was  extremely  difficult,  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  the 
boy  in  his  later  life  would  never  find  such  difficulties 
to  meet,  and  if  he  had  mastered  his  Latin,  it  was  cer- 
tain that  he  could  master  any  lesser  difficulties  that 
he  would  later  encounter. 

But  any  one  who  has  considered  the  vast  stretch 
and  variety  of  studies  opening  up  before  every  child, 


152  THE   ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

and  of  the  great  number  of  inherent  and  unavoidable 
difficulties  which  beset  his  course  in  every  study,  will 
abandon  forever  the  idea  of  inventing  educational 
hardships  and  conundrums.  On  this  point  James 
says :  "  The  teacher,  therefore,  need  never  concern 
himself  about  inventing  occasions  where  effort  must 
be  called  into  play.  Let  him  still  awaken  whatever 
sources  of  interest  in  the  subject  he  can  by  stirring 
up  connections  between  it  and  the  pupil's  nature, 
whether  in  the  line  of  theoretic  curiosity,  of  interest, 
or  of  pugnacious  impulse.  The  laws  of  mind  will 
then  bring  pulses  of  effort  into  play  to  keep  the 
pupil  exercised  in  the  direction  of  the  subject." 

Our  great  problem  in  teaching  is  not  to  invent 
difficulties  but  to  find  out  the  best  ways  for  the  child 
to  overcome  them.  We  wish  him  to  employ  his 
knowledge,  his  interest,  his  will-power,  in  short,  all 
his  mental  machinery,  in  a  strong  and  unremitting 
effort  to  master  difficulties.  We  are  inclined  to  say 
that  the  best  way  to  do  this  is  to  reduce  friction  to  a 
minimum.  It  has  been  the  effort  of  machinists  dur- 
ing years  and  centuries  of  progress,  by  every  device 
which  their  ingenuity  and  skill  could  discover,  to 
reduce  friction  by  means  of  the  smoothest  adjust- 
ment of  axles,  lubricating  oils,  smooth  and  level 
tracks,  and  latterly  by  the  wonderful  ball-bearing 
devices.  In  other  words,  the  machinists  have  done 
their  utmost  to  overcome  the  difficulties  in  using  the 
materials  in  nature  by  the  most  skilful  use  of  nature's 


INTEREST  153 

forces  and  laws.  It  is  difficult  to  see  why  the  still 
more  delicate  machinery  of  the  mind  should  not  be 
allowed  to  operate  upon  the  same  principle,  namely, 
to  overcome  necessary  difficulties  by  the  least  ex- 
penditure of  effort,  or,  still  better,  to  allow  the  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  mental  machinery  to  work  together 
in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  this  mechanism  with 
the  least  friction  and  strain.  This  seems  to  be  not 
only  scientifically  correct  but  practically  desirable  ;  for 
nowadays  there  is  no  limit  to  the  difficulties  which 
the  mind  should  be  brought  to  overcome.  The  great- 
est economy  of  effort,  therefore,  is  desirable. 

It  has  been  claimed  by  the  advocates  of  interest 
that  it  is  the  greatest  friction-reducing  element  in 
giving  smoothness  and  certainty  to  the  efforts  of  the 
will.  The  opponents  of  interest  have  held  to  the 
precisely  opposite  view,  namely,  that  interest  under- 
mines will.  Adams  says  :  *'  We  find  that  so  far  from 
enervating  the  pupil,  the  principle  of  interest  braces 
him  up  to  endure  all  manner  of  drudgery  and  hard 
work,"  and  he  supports  this  view  with  many  apt  illus- 
trations. James  says :  "  In  real  life  our  memory  is 
always  used  in  the  service  of  some  interest.  We  re- 
member things  which  we  care  for  or  which  are  asso- 
ciated with  things  which  we  care  f  or ;  "  and  again, 
"  This  preponderance  of  interest,  of  passion,  in  deter- 
mining the  results  of  a  human  being's  working  life 
obtains  throughout."  Ostermann  says :  "  The  fact 
that  the  whole  range  of  the  associative  process,  as 


154  THE   ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

well  as  attention  and  retentiveness  of  the  memory, 
and  indeed,  all  spontaneous  and  happy  devotion  to 
school  work,  is  dependent  upon  interest,  makes  it  evi- 
dent that  interest  is  of  special  significance  for  the 
intellectual  results  of  school  instruction.  At  the 
same  time  the  fact  that  all  the  motives  of  conscious 
effort  and  volition  depend  on  interest,  causes  interest 
to  assume,  from  an  educational  standpoint,  the  signifi- 
cance of  a  cardinal  concept  of  pedagogy,  of  a  funda- 
mental principle  on  whose  proper  recognition  depends 
more  than  upon  anything  else  the  educational  success 
of  school  instruction  as  well  as  the  success  of  home 
training.  In  whatever  direction  the  predominating 
interests  of  man  incline,  thither  also  tend  with  psy- 
chological necessity  his  striving  and  volition." 

The  objections  of  the  opponents  to  the  theory  of 
interest  seem  to  lie  mainly  in  the  assumption  that 
interest  is  fitful,  emotional,  unreliable,  and  even  mis- 
leading. Instead  of  supporting  a  good  will,  it  often 
runs  directly  counter  to  it  and  interferes  with  and 
weakens  the  will  effort.  It  seems  to  us  that  the  best 
way  to  solve  this  difficulty  is  to  yoke  up  interest  and 
will  together,  and  let  them  both  pull  in  the  same 
direction.  One  of  the  strongest  arguments  on  this 
point  is  that  of  John  Dewey  in  his  essay  ''  Interest 
as  related  to  Will,"  in  which  he  claims  that  will  effort 
divorced  from  interest  splits  and  weakens  attention. 
He  says:  "The  theory  of  effort,  as  already  stated, 
means  a  virtual  division  of  attention  and  the  corre- 


INTEREST  155 

Spending  disintegration  of  character,  intellectually 
and  morally.  The  great  fallacy  of  the  so-called 
effort  theory  is,  that  it  identifies  the  exercise  and 
training  of  will  with  certain  external  activities  and 
certain  external  results.  It  is  supposed,  because  a 
child  is  occupied  with  some  outward  result,  and  be- 
cause he  succeeds  in  exhibiting  the  required  product, 
that  he  is  really  putting  forth  will,  and  that  definite 
intellectual  and  moral  habits  are  in  process  of  forma- 
tion. But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  moral  exercise  of 
the  will  is  not  found  in  the  external  assumption  of 
any  posture,  and  the  formation  of  moral  habit  cannot 
be  identified  with  the  ability  to  show  up  results  at 
the  demand  of  another.  The  exercise  of  the  will  is 
manifest  in  the  direction  of  attention,  and  depends 
upon  the  spirit,  the  motive,  the  disposition,  in  which 
the  work  is  carried  on. 

"The  child  may  be  externally  entirely  occupied 
with  mastering  the  multiphcation  table,  and  be  able 
to  reproduce  that  table  when  asked  to  do  so  by  his 
teacher.  The  teacher  may  congratulate  himself  that 
the  child  has  been  so  exercising  his  will  power  as  to 
be  forming  right  intellectual  and  moral  habits.  Not 
so,  unless  moral  habit  be  identified  with  this  ability 
to  show  certain  results  when  required.  The  question 
of  moral  training  has  not  been  touched  until  we  know 
what  the  child  has  been  internally  occupied  with, 
what  the  preponderating  direction  of  his  attention, 
his  feelings,  his  disposition,  has  been  while  engaged 


156    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

upon  this  task.  If  the  task  has  appealed  to  him 
merely  as  a  task,  it  is  as  certain,  psychologically,  as 
the  law  of  action  and  reaction,  physically,  that  the 
child  is  simply  engaged  in  acquiring  the  habit  of 
divided  attention ;  that  he  is  getting  the  ability  to 
direct  eye  and  ear,  lips  and  mouth,  to  what  is  present 
before  him  in  such  a  way  as  to  impress  those  things 
upon  his  memory,  while  at  the  same  time  getting  his 
mental  imagery  free  to  work  upon  matters  of  real 
interest  to  him. 

"  No  account  of  the  actual  moral  training  secured 
is  adequate  unless  it  recognizes  the  division  of  atten- 
tion into  which  the  child  is  being  educated,  and  faces 
the  question  of  what  the  moral  worth  of  such  a  divi- 
sion may  be.  External  mechanical  attention  to  a 
task  conceived  as  a  task,  is  the  inevitable  correlate 
of  an  internal  mind-wandering  along  the  lines  of  the 
pleasurable. 

"  The  spontaneous  power  of  the  child,  his  demand 
for  realization  of  his  own  impulses,  cannot  by  any 
possibility  be  suppressed.  If  the  external  conditions 
are  such  that  the  child  cannot  put  his  spontaneous 
activity  into  the  work  to  be  done,  if  he  finds  that  he 
cannot  express  himself  in  that,  he  learns  in  a  most 
miraculous  way  the  exact  amount  of  attention  that 
has  to  be  given  to  this  external  material  to  satisfy 
the  requirements  of  the  teacher,  while  saving  up  the 
rest  of  his  mental  powers  for  following  out  lines  of 
imagery  that  appeal  to  him.     I  do  not  say  that  there 


INTEREST  157 

is  absolutely  no  moral  training  involved  in  forming 
these  habits  of  external  attention,  but  I  do  say  that 
there  is  a  question  of  moral  import  involved  in  the 
formation  of  the  habits  of  internal  inattention," 

The  friends  of  the  doctrine  of  interest,  therefore, 
not  only  subscribe  to  the  notion  of  severe  effort  and 
exertion,  but,  wherever  difficulties  are  to  be  met, 
they  demand  a  greater  concentration  of  will  energy, 
and  intellectual  effort,  than  that  obtained  by  the 
sheer  exercise  of  will.  We  need  a  force  superadded 
to  the  will  which  will  lead  children  to  exert  them- 
selves with  greater  energy  when  encountering  dis- 
agreeable tasks.  There  are  places  in  every  subject 
where  work  is  felt  as  a  burden  rather  than  a  pleasure ; 
but  the  interest  and  energy  developed,  the  farther- 
reaching  aims  and  motives,  which  make  their  appeal 
to  the  child  in  the  more  attractive  parts  of  the  sub-, 
ject,  will  carry  him  through  the  swamps  and  mires 
at  a  speedier  rate. 

In  opposition  to  such  a  lively  and  humane  treat- 
ment, with  its  motive-producing  stimulus,  a  dry  and 
dull  routine  has  often  been  praised  as  the  proper 
discipline  of  the  mind  and  especially  of  the  will. 
Ziller  says :  '*  It  was  a  mistake  to  find  in  the  simple 
pressure  of  difficulties  a  source  of  culture,  for  it  is 
the  opposite  of  culture.  It  was  a  mistake  to  call  the 
pressure  of  effort,  the  feeling  of  burden  and  pain,  a 
source  of  proper  will  training,  simply  because  will 
power  and  firmness  of  character  are  thus  secured 


158  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

and  preserved  to  youth.  Pedagogical  efforts  look- 
ing toward  a  lightening  and  enlivening  of  instruction 
should  not  have  been  answered  by  an  appeal  to  severe 
methods,  to  strict  dry  and  dull  learning,  that  made 
no  attempt  to  adapt  itself  to  the  natural  movement  of 
the  child's  mind." 

Not  those  studies  which  are  driest,  dullest,  and 
most  disagreeable,  unrelieved  by  interesting  points 
of  contact  with  the  child's  inner  self,  should  be 
selected  upon  which  to  awaken-  the  mental  forces, 
but  rather  those  studies  which  naturally  arouse  his 
interest  and  prompt  him  to  a  lively  spontaneous  exer- 
cise of  his  powers.  For  children  of  the  third  and 
fourth  grades  to  read  and  narrate  the  story  of  the 
Golden  Fleece,  is  a  more  suitable  exercise  than  to 
memorize  the  one  hundred  and  nineteenth  psalm  or 
the  catechism. 

Interest  as  a  support  to  the  will,  and  even  as  a  will 
stimulus,  has  peculiar  advantages.  It  is  not,  indeed, 
desired  that  chance  inclinations  and  feelings  shall 
take  possession  of  the  mind,  especially  not  the  dis- 
orderly and  momentary  impulses.  The  worthier 
purposes  and  impulses  should  be  brought  under  the 
immediate  service  of  the  will,  and  be  allowed  to  exe- 
cute its  behests.  The  importance  of  awakening 
interest  as  a  basis  of  will  cultivation  is  found  in  the 
favorable  mental  state  induced  by  interest  as  a  pre- 
liminary and  attendant  to  action  along  the  best  lines. 
Interest  is  a  quiet,  steady  undertone  of  feeling  which 


INTEREST  159 

brings  everything  into  readiness  for  action,  clears 
the  deck,  so  to  speak,  and  even  begins  and  vigorously 
supports  the  attack.  It  would  be  a  vast  help  to 
many  boys  and  girls  if  the  irksomeness  of  study  in 
arithmetic,  history,  grammar,  etc.,  which  is  often  so 
fatal  to  will  energy,  could  give  way  to  the  spur  of 
interest ;  and  when  the  wheels  are  once  set  in  motion, 
progress  would  not  only  begin  but  be  sustained  by 
interest.  It  would  be  well  if  every  study  and  lesson 
could  arouse  such  a  steady  interest.  It  would  be  in 
many  cases  like  lubricating  oil  poured  upon  dry  and 
creaking  axles.  Knowledge  would  then  have  a  flavor 
to  it,  and  would  be  more  than  a  consumption  of  cer- 
tain facts  and  formulas  coldly  turned  over  to  the 
memory  machine.  The  child's  own  personality  must 
become  entangled  in  the  facts  and  ideas  acquired. 
There  should  be  a  sort  of  affinity  established  between 
the  child's  soul  and  the  information  he  gains.  At 
every  step  the  sympathy  and  life  experiences  from 
without  the  school  should  be  intertwined  with  school 
acquisitions.  All,  then,  would  be  woven  together  and 
permeated  by  feeling.  We  forget  that  the  feelings 
or  sensibilities  awakened  by  knowledge  are  what  give 
it  personal  significance  to  us  and  lead  on  to  action. 

The  greater  the  amount  of  this  kind  of  motive- 
producing  knowledge,  which  lays  tribute  on  the 
child's  inner  self,  what  Dewey  calls  ''  the  spontaneous 
power  of  the  child,  his  demand  for  the  realization  of 
his  own  impulses,"  the  stronger  and  steadier  may  we 


l6o    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

expect  his  exercise  of  will  under  difficulties  and  hard- 
ships to  be. 

It  is  also  true  that  a  proper  interest  is  a  protection 
against  the  desires,  disorderly  impulses,  and  passions. 
One  of  the  chief  ends  of  education  is  to  bring  the 
inclinations  and  importunate  desires  under  mastery, 
to  establish  a  counterpoise  to  them  by  the  steady  and 
persistent  forces  of  education.  A  many-sided  inter- 
est, cultivated  along  the  chief  paths  of  knowledge, 
implies  such  mental  vigor  and  such  preoccupation 
with  worthy  subjects  as  naturally  to  discourage  un- 
worthy desires.  James  shows  that  this  predominance 
of  the  better  feelings  and  interests  is  secured  partly 
by  the  inhibition  which  the  higher  feelings  exercise 
over  the  lower,  and  partly  by  a  direct  cultivation  of 
the  higher  feelings  and  neglect  of  the  lower. 

Locke  says,  self-restraint,  the  mastery  over  one's 
incHnations,  is  the  foundation  of  virtue.  "  He  that 
has  found  a  way  how  to  keep  a  child's  spirit  easy, 
active,  and  free,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  to  restrain 
him  from  many  things  he  has  a  mind  to,  and  to  draw 
him  to  things  that  are  uneasy  to  him ;  he,  I  say,  that 
knows  how  to  reconcile  these  seeming  contradictions, 
has,  in  my  opinion,  got  the  true  secret  of  education." 

The  solution  of  this  great  problem  lies  not  in  elimi- 
nating and  ignoring  either  the  agreeable  or  the  dis- 
agreeable features  of  training,  neither  in  avoiding  the 
v/ difficulties  nor  in  sacrificing  the  pleasures  of  study, 
'  but  in  arousing  the  motives  and  interests  which  will 


INTEREST  l6l 

assist  the  will,  giving  impetus  and  strength  in  the 
direction  in  which  it  turns  mental  action.  How  is 
the  teacher  to  approach  and  influence  the  will  of  the 
child  so  that  he  may  acquire  self-mastery  ?  Is  it  by 
supposing  that  the  child  has  a  will  already  developed 
and  strong  enough  to  push  through  all  obstacles  ?  On 
the  contrary,  must  not  the  teacher  put  incentives  in 
the  path  of  the  pupil,  cultivate  higher  motives  and 
feelings,  which  will  prompt  him  to  self-denial,  and 
assist  the  will  in  mastering  lower  forms  of  impulse  ? 

In  summing  up  the  argument  as  to  how  we  may 
develop  that  strength  of  character  by  which  irksome 
and  disagreeable  tasks  are  boldly  faced  and  over- 
come, we  may  say  that  it  is  not  by  an  appeal  to  sheer 
will,  but  by  gradually  cultivating  not  only  the  will  but 
all  those  intellectual  and  emotional  habits  upon  which 
the  efficiency  of  the  will  depends.  In  order  that  the 
mind  as  a  whole  act  with  the  least  friction  and  strain, 
feeling,  intellect,  and  will  must  act  in  unison.  Where, 
on  the  contrary,  will  and  feeling  pull  in  opposite 
directions,  the  force  of  attention  is  divided,  mental 
effort  weakened,  and  moral  character  disintegrated. 
Again,  the  cultivation  of  wholesome  and  hearty  in- 
terests is  a  protection  against  all  the  lower  forms  of 
feeling  and  impulse.  The  experience  of  many  teach- 
ers in  our  schools  to-day  goes  to  prove  that  even  our 
present  school  studies  have  strong  and  varied  sources 
of  interest  which  are  of  the  greatest  value  in  encour- 
aging children  to  master  their  problems. 


CHAPTER   IV 

CORRELATION 

By  correlation  is  meant  such  a  connection  be- 
tween the  parts  of  each  study  and  such  a  spinning  of 
relations  and  connecting  links  between  different 
sciences,  that  unity  may  spring  out  of  the  variety  of 
knowledge.  History,  for  example,  is  a  series  and 
collocation  of  facts  explainable  on  the  basis  of  cause 
and  effect,  a  development.  On  the  other  hand,  his- 
tory is  intimately  related  to  geography,  language, 
natural  science,  literature,  and  mathematics.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  draw  real  history  out  by  the 
roots  without  drawing  all  other  studies  out  bodily 
with  it. 

Correlation  is  so  bound  up  with  the  idea  of 
character-forming  that  it  includes  more  than  school 
studies.  It  lays  hold  of  home  influences,  and  all  the 
experiences  of  life  outside  of  school,  and  brings  them 
into  the  daily  service  of  school  studies.  It  is  just  as 
important  to  bind  up  home  experience  with  geogra- 
phy, arithmetic,  language,  and  other  studies,  as  it  is 
to  see  the  connection  between  geography  and  history. 
In  the  end,  all  the  knowledge  and  experience  gained 

by  a  person  at  home,  at  school,  and  elsewhere,  should 

163 


CORRELATION  163 

be  classified  and  related,  and  each  part  brought  into 
its  right  associations  with  other  parts. 

Nor  is  it  simply  a  question  of  throwing  the  varied 
sorts  of  knowledge  into  a  network  of  crossing  and 
interwoven  series,  so  that  the  person  may  have  ready 
access  along  various  lines  to  all  his  knowledge  stores. 
Correlation  draws  the  feelings  and  the  will  equally 
into  its  circle  of  operations.  To  imagine  a  character 
without  feeling  and  will  would  be  like  thinking  of  a 
watch  without  a  mainspring.  All  knowledge  prop- 
erly taught  generates  feeling.  The  will  is  steadily 
laying  aut,  during  the  formative  period  of  education, 
the  highways  of  its  future  activities.  Habits  of  will- 
ing are  formed  along  the  lines  of  associated  thought 
and  feeling.  The  more  feeling  and  will  are  enlisted 
through  all  the  avenues  of  study  and  experience,  the 
more  permanent  is  their  influence  upon  character. 

The  opposite  of  correlation  is  the  isolation,  the 
strict  separation,  of  studies,  and  the  neglect  of  the 
connecting  links  between  them.  Up  to  the  present 
time  the  distinct  isolation  of  the  branches  of  learning 
has  been  the  rule,  and  attempts  at  closer  articulation 
of  different  studies  have  been  exceptional.  In  a 
great  many  schools  at  present  children  are  given 
half  a  dozen  or  more  recitations  in  a  single  day,  al- 
most wholly  distinct  and  unrelated  to  one  another; 
and  even  if  relations  exist,  they  are  left  unnoticed. 
Herbart  says :  "  I  cannot  refrain  from  wondering 
what  sort  of   a  process  is  being  worked  out  in  the 


1 64    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

heads  of  schoolboys  who,  in  a  single  forenoon,  are 
driven  through  a  series  of  heterogeneous  lessons, 
each  one  of  which,  on  the  following  day,  at  the 
regular  tap  of  the  bell,  is  repeated  and  continued.  Is 
it  expected  that  these  boys  will  bring  into  relation 
with  one  another  and  with  the  thoughts  of  the  play- 
ground the  different  threads  of  thought  there  spun  ? 
There  are  educators  and  teachers  who,  with  mar- 
vellous confidence,  presuppose  just  this,  and  in  con- 
sequence trouble  themselves  no  further." 

Correlation  seeks  to  overcome  the  present  uncon- 
nectedness  of  studies ;  it  lays  stress  upon  relations 
and  seeks  to  enlarge  the  range  of  a  child's  thought- 
fulness  and  rational  survey,  his  self-activity  and 
insight,  by  so  planning  and  laying  out  the  course 
of  study  that  the  sciences  everywhere  may  be 
brought  into  more  vital  juxtaposition,  that  the  child's 
knowledge  may  be  unified  and  his  practical  power 
over  it  increased. 

In  the  discussion  of  this  subject  different  terms 
have  been  employed  to  express  different  degrees  of 
emphasis  upon  the  idea  of  relations,  such  as  coordina- 
tion, correlation,  and  concentration. 

Coordination  of  studies  implies  the  setting  up  of 
distinct  and  independent  branches  of  study  of  equal 
rank.  It  is  an  emphasis  of  the  equality  of  studies 
rather  than  of  the  interrelations.  In  his  Jacksonville 
paper  Dr.  Harris  names  the  five  coordinate  groups 
as  follows:    i.   Mathematics  and  physics.      2.  Biol- 


CORRELATION  1 65 

ogy,  including  plant  and  animal.  3.  Literature  and 
art.  4.  Grammar  as  a  science  and  leading  to  logic 
and  psychology.  5.  History,  including  the  study 
of  sociological,  political,  and  social  institutions. 
Dr.  Harris  says :  "  It  will  be  seen  that  the  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen  intended  their  report  to  convince 
the  careful  reader  that  no  one  of  these  groups  could 
be  taken  as  a  substitute  for  any  other,  and  that 
no  one  of  these  groups  could  be  spared  from  a 
symmetrical  whole  without  destroying  the  pupil's 
view  of  the  world.  It  would  have  needed  no  ad- 
ditional argument  to  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that 
if  there  are  five  coordinate  groups,  neither^  one  of 
which  can  be  a  substitute  for  the  other,  and  each 
of  which  is  essential  to  the  child's  symmetrical 
view,  of  the  world,  a  concentration  which  subor- 
dinated one  or  more  of  these  groups  to  another 
would  do  violence  to  the  child's  culture."  So  far  as 
this  passage  is  concerned,  coordination  expresses  ^a 
distinct  isolation  of  important  groups  and  a  fear 
of  any  closer  dependence  of  one  important  group 
upon  another.  Coordination  therefore  gives  no  em- 
phasis to  the  relations  between  studies.  Expresse4 
in  the  form  of  a  diagram,  coordination  gives  us  ii;i 
this  case  five  parallel  lines,  with  no  cross-connections 
between  the  groups,  as  follows :  — 

Correlation,  as  commonly  used,  expresses  the  idea 
of  interconnections  between  studies.     A  good  analogy 


i66 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF   GENERAL  METHOD 


is  the  warp  and  woof  of  a  woven  fabric.  The  threads 
run  in  both  directions  and  are  closely  woven  to- 
gether; the  studies  represent  the  linear  threads,  run- 
ning lengthwise  of  the  cloth,  while  the  crossing 
threads  represent  the  connections  between  studies. 
Expressed  in  the  form  of  a  diagram,  it  gives  us  the 
five  main  lines  with  cross-connections. 

Concentration  not  only  emphasizes  connections, 
but  it  requires  the  dependence  of  some  studies  upon 
others.  In  an  extreme  form  it  sets  one  study  or 
group  of  studies  in  the  centre  of  the  curriculum,  and 
concentrates  all  other  studies  or  groups  in  more  or 
less  subordinate  relations  around  this  centre.  It  is 
illustrated  diagrammatically  by  a  heavy  line  in  the 
centre,  with  lesser  parallel  lines  closely  connected 
with  it. 


Coordiuative 


Correlation 


A  c 

i  I 

I  i 

I 

;          i 

s 

5   I 

I    i 

i   : 

^ 

L    C 

>     I 

[   i 

3    1 

— - 

zz: 



= 

— 

^ 

m 

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— 

— - 

1 

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— 

— 

— 

1 — 1 

1 — 1 

1 — 1 

— 1 

Ooucentration 


The  sequence  of  topics  in  the  subordinate  study 
may  be  determined  to  some  extent  by  the  central 
study.  The  amount  of  this  subordination  depends 
upon  the  general  plan  of  laying  out  the  course  of 
study. 


CORRELATION  1 6/ 

In  connection  with  coordinate  groups  of  study  the 
term  "  correlation  "  is  used  in  a  sense  different  from 
that  described  above.  Each  group  of  studies  correlates 
the  child,  on  one  side,  with  the  world,  on  the  other. 
We  might  call  this  a  linear  correlation,  the  things 
correlated  being  the  child  and  the  world,  through 
the  long  line  of  each  particular  study.  In  this 
sense  correlation  ignores  the  relations  between  the 
studies. 

In  the  present  chapter  I  am  disposed  to  emphasize 
strongly  the  idea  of  correlation  as  a  means  of  binding 
together  more  closely  all  the  studies  and  experiences 
of  a  child. 

In  a  very  important  sense  the  centre  for  all  con- 
centrating efforts  in  education  is  not  simply  the 
knowledge  given  in  the  school  course,  but  the  child's 
mind  itself  with  its  contents.  We  do  not  desire  to 
find  in  the  school  studies  an  objective  centre,  but 
rather  a  means  of  fortifying  the  original  stronghold 
of  character  which  is  built  upon  native  mental  char- 
acteristics and  whatever  is  good  in  home  influences. 
We  have  in  mind  the  practical  union  of  all  the  ex- 
periences and  knowledge  that  find  entrance  into  a 
particular  mind. 

There  are  several  different  ways  by  which  correla- 
tion can  be  brought  about. 

First  is  the  close  serial  connection  of  ideas  in  a 
single  study.  Most  teachers  will  admit  that  each 
lesson  should  be  a  collection  of  connected  facts,  and 


l68  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

that  every  study,  so  far  as  it  is  a  science,  should  con- 
sist of  a  series  of  derivative  and  mutually  dependent 
lessons.  This  is  based  upon  the  idea  of  a  natural 
scientific  order  or  sequence  of  topics  upon  which  the 
systematic  framework  of  a  science  rests.  In  our  com- 
mon school  course  grammar  and  arithmetic  approxi- 
mate complete  sciences  more  nearly  than  the  other 
studies.  History  has  generally  followed  a  pretty 
definite  chronological  order,  and  geography  has,  in 
most  text-books,  followed  a  traditional  sequence 
which  has  been  broken  into  of  late.  In  reading  les- 
sons, nature  study,  and  language  lessons,  nothing  like 
a  scientific  sequence  of  topics  has  even  been  estab- 
Hshed.  In  spelling  and  writing  we  are  trying  to  get 
possession  of  symbols  rather  than  to  master  a  science. 
In  drawing  and  manual  training  the  efforts  to  estab- 
lish a  fixed  order  of  topics  has  led  to  an  unpedagogi- 
cal  routine  which  had  to  be  broken  up. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  separate  studies  as  they  pre- 
sent themselves  in  the  school  course  to-day,  are  not 
sciences.  They  are  not  systematic  bodies  of  knowl- 
edge. Yet  there  is,  in  most  studies,  a  partly  scien- 
tific, partly  pedagogical,  sequence  of  topics  which 
will  greatly  aid  the  children  in  the  mastery  of  the 
separate  branches.  The  study  and  mastery  of  arith- 
metic as  a  connection  of  closely  related  principles  has 
not  been  sufficiently  realized  in  practice.  One  of  the 
chief  difficulties  in  arithmetic  is  to  get  children  to 
remember  and  apply  what  they  have  already  learned. 


CORRELATION  1 69 

It  may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  by  far  too 
much  has  been  made  of  this  sequence  of  topics  in  a 
study  as  an  argument  for  the  strict  isolation  of 
studies.  The  isolation  that  has  long  prevailed  in  our 
school  studies  has  helped  to  fix  the  traditional  belief 
that  it  had  a  substantial  basis  in  this  important 
sequence  of  topics  in  each  study.  But  an  analytic 
examination  of  the  materials  in  our  common  school 
studies  will  show  that  this  reputed  sequence  in  some 
cases  does  not  exist,  and  in  others  is  capable,  without 
injury,  of  great  modification. 

Second.  Correlation  is  chiefly  concerned  with  the 
relation  of  different  studies  to  each  other,  assuming 
that  the  studies  of  the  school  course  have  been  prop- 
erly laid  out.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  a  great 
number  of  important  relations  actually  exist  between 
different  branches.  Reading,  for  example,  apart  from 
its  great  lines  of  study  in  literature,  is  largely  a  rela- 
tive study.  The  art  of  reading  is  merely  a  prepa- 
ration for  a  better  grasp  of  history,  geography, 
arithmetic,  and  all  studies.  Supplementary  readers, 
much  used,  consist  almost  exclusively  of  interesting 
matter  bearing  upon  geography,  history,  and  nature 
study.  Geography,  especially,  serves  to  establish  a 
network  of  connections  between  other  kinds  of  knowl- 
edge. It  is  a  very  important  supplement  to  history. 
Geography  lessons  are  full  of  natural  science,  as  of 
plants,  rocks,  animals,  climate,  inventions,  machines, 
races,  etc.     Indeed,  there  is  scarcely  a  school  study 


I/O         THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

that  should  not  be  brought  into  close  relations  to 
geography.  Language  lessons  should  receive  all 
their  subject-matter  from  history,  natural  science, 
geography,  and  literature.  All  the  other  studies 
should  help  to  confirm  and  establish  the  correct 
language  forms  in  use.  Drawing  is  of  direct  value 
nowadays  in  nearly  all  studies.  It  can  be  shown 
that  there  are  many  topics  in  which  two  or  more 
studies  are  nearly  equally  concerned.  The  Hudson 
River,  for  instance,  is  of  great  interest  from  the 
standpoint  of  history,  geography,  geology,  and  litera- 
ture, and  the  knowledge  of  one  is  a  direct  support  to 
the  others. 

Rein  says("Erstes  Schuljahr,"  p.  20):  "Concen- 
tration requires  only  that  one  form  (study)  of  instruc- 
tion seek  and  find  points  of  contact  with  another 
form,  the  material  worked  over  in  one  study  must  be 
recapitulated  in  another,  and  that  which  has  been 
handled  in  one  branch  of  instruction  must  be  turned 
over  to  another  for  further  elaboration.  Every  branch 
of  study  must  presuppose  that  the  other  study  either 
has  or  will  do  its  duty  in  its  own  peculiar  way,  with 
the  material  which  concerns  them  both.  It  is  only 
this  sort  of  mutual  interaction  between  the  branches 
of  instruction  which  is  demanded  by  genuine  con- 
centration." 

An  examination  of  the  school  studies  themselves 
will  show  that  the  relations  between  different  studies 
are,  in  very  many  cases,  more  important  and  signifi- 


CORRELATION        ^<ti£0^        I /I 


cant  than  the  relations  between  the  different  parts  of 
the  same  science.  This  does  not  mean  that  we  pro- 
pose to  mix  and  confuse  the  studies.  We  believe  in 
the  isolation,  for  purposes  of  instruction,  of  every 
important  study,  as  has  been  already  shown ;  but  we 
believe  also  that  every  important  topic  in  any  study 
should  be  seen  in  its  natural  relations  to  topics  in 
other  studies,  thus  binding  the  studies  together  in  a 
multitude  of  close  interrelations.  It  has  been  as- 
sumed by  those  opposed  to  a  close  binding  together 
of  all  the  studies,  that  the  important  relations  are  not 
between  the  different  studies  but  between  the  parts 
of  any  one  study.  If,  however,  we  will  select  any 
important  topic  in  botany,  history,  geography,  and 
even  arithmetic,  and  give  it  a  genuine  pedagogical 
treatment,  we  shall  find  that  the  roots  of  such  a  topic 
almost  invariably  reach  out  into  the  other  sciences 
and  establish  those  life  connections  which  are  the 
very  essence  of  good  instruction. 

In  the  study  of  the  apple  tree  in  botany  classes,  on 
the  principle  of  isolation,  it  has  been  customary  to 
make  an  examination  of  the  blossom  and  to  note 
sufficient  comparisons  with  other  members  of  the 
rose  family  so  as  to  trace  it  out  and  classify  it  in  this 
group  of  plants  {Rosacece).  The  purpose  of  such  a 
study  of  botany  is  to  get  a  knowledge  of  the  leading 
classes  of  plants  as  artificially  isolated  from  the  rest 
of  nature.  This  process  of  isolation  is  totally  inade- 
quate to  a  pedagogical  study  of  trees  and  plants. 


1^2  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

A  proper  study  of  the  apple  tree  as  a  type  of  vegeta- 
tion would  include  such  topics  as  follows :  the  apple 
seedling,  grafting,  the  roots  in  relation  to  soil  and 
moisture,  the  functions  of  the  bark,  sap,  and  woody 
fibre,  the  dangers  to  the  tree  from  cold,  frost,  rabbits, 
insects,  influence  of  sunlight  and  climate ;  compari- 
son of  the  apple  tree  with  other  fruit  trees  and  plants  ; 
the  influence  of  cultivation  upon  apples,  wild  apples, 
uses  of  the  apple. 

The  treatment  of  the  apple  tree  in  this  manner 
would  involve  the  time  of  several  lessons,  running 
through  several  weeks,  with  observations,  excursions, 
etc.  It  would  reach  deep  into  the  subject  of  plant 
life  and  growth,  and  turn  up  new  soil  in  every  lesson. 
It  is  certain  that  questions  would  be  raised  involving 
the  relation  of  the  tree  to  geology,  chemistry,  physi- 
cal geography,  physics,  and  zoology,  and  the  rela- 
tions touched  upon  would  be  vital  relations  to  these 
subjects. 

The  roots  draw  their  moisture  out  of  the  soil  and 
are  particularly  adapted  to  this  purpose  (geology), 
but  the  leaves  also  absorb  from  the  air  and  from  the 
sunlight  life-giving  elements  (physics  and  chemistry). 
The  frost  and  noxious  insects  threaten  the  life  and 
fruitfulness  of  the  tree  (zoology  and  physics).  The 
tree  grows  and  flourishes  and  keeps  up  its  life's  pro- 
cesses hemmed  in  and  vitalized  by  this  environment 
of  other  sciences.  Moreover,  genuine  instruction  can 
never  ignore  these  vital  causal  relations  which  exist 


CORRELATION  1 73 

between  topics  of  different  sciences.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  call  attention  here  to  the  fact  that  such  a 
topic  as  the  apple  tree,  handled  in  the  manner  sug- 
gested, is  a  strictly  botanical  topic  and  does  not  pur- 
pose to  teach  geology,  zoology,  or  chemistry. 

The  purpose  is  to  understand  the  tree  and  its  life 
and  its  utilities  ;  but  this  is  impossible,  without  tracing 
the  close  connections  of  the  soil,  sunlight,  insect,  etc., 
to  the  tree.  A  tree  can  no  more  be  understood  in 
its  life  processes  when  isolated  as  a  botanical  speci- 
men than  a  man  can  be  appreciated  in  his  character 
and  influence  isolated  from  society.  It  is  apparent 
that  the  purely  botanical  treatment  of  the  apple 
tree  is  largely  artificial,  ignoring  life  relations,  while 
emphasizing  botanical  classifications. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  multiply  illustrations  to 
show  that  almost  every  important  topic  in  zoology  or 
botany,  if  treated  properly,  would  illustrate  equally 
well  our  proposition  that  the  relations  between  topics 
in  different  studies  are  very  often  more  important 
and  significant  than  the  relations  between  different 
parts  of  the  same  science.  In  geography  and  his- 
tory, I  think  this  proposition  may  be  maintained  with 
equal  force.  Nearly  every  important  topic  in  geog- 
raphy has  its  roots  in  history  and  the  natural 
sciences. 

The  treatment  of  the  falls  of  Minneapolis,  for 
example,  would  bring  in,  by  way  of  necessary  ex- 
planation, the  rock  strata  and  the  canon  below  the 


174    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

falls  (geology);  the  mills  and  turbine  wheels  (pViys- 
ics);  sawmills  and  pineries  (pine  trees);  the  early 
history  (Indians  and  Hennepin) ;  besides  the  strict 
geographical  relations  of  commerce,  railroads,  Min- 
neapolis, etc. 

Again,  we  say  that  a  mixing  of  studies  is  not 
implied,  but  an  understanding  of  one  topic  in  one 
study  in  its  relations.  In  none  of  these  cases  is  it 
expected  that  a  full  treatment  is  given  to  any  simply 
related  topic.  It  may  be  remarked  here,  however, 
that  skilful  teaching  is  required  in  the  treatment  of 
such  topics  in  order  to  avoid  the  mixing  and  confus- 
ing of  studies.  This  is  one  of  the  dangers  necessa- 
rily incident  to  a  proper  interrelation  of  studies. 

Such  studies  as  history,  the  natural  sciences,  and 
geography  have  everywhere  these  deep,  vital,  and 
multifarious  interrelations.  Reading,  considered  as 
masterpieces  of  human  thought,  belongs  also  to  this 
group.  But  reading  as  an  art,  language  lessons, 
writing,  drawing,  and  some  of  arithmetic,  stand  in  a 
different  relation  to  the  first-named  studies.  We 
have  seen  that  language  lessons  in  the  first  five  or 
six  grades  have  no  scientific  unity.  They  are  simply 
exercises  in  written  and  oral  expression  for  the  pur- 
pose of  forming  right  habits,  with  a  few  incidental 
rules  and  classes.  The  thought  materials  for  lan- 
guage lessons  are  best  drawn  from  history,  natural 
science,  or  geography.  Reading,  language  lessons, 
writing,  and   spelling   have    been  sometimes   called 


CORRELATION  1 75 

formal  studies,  as  distinguished  from  content  studies. 
Without  entering  into  any  dispute  as  to  the  rela- 
tion of  form  to  thought,  it  is  still  clear  that  what  are 
ordinarily  recognized  as  the  forms  of  reading,  spell- 
ing, writing,  and  good  English  require  special  drills. 
Not  many  teachers  have  yet  reached  the  conclusion 
that  reading,  writing,  and  spelling  can  be  properly 
mastered  without  special  drill  on  the  forms  them- 
selves. But  in  the  common  school  the  thought 
materials  which  must  be  brought  into  form  are 
supplied  by  the  other  studies.  This  brings  us  to  the 
extremely  close  relation  that  should  subsist  between 
geography,  literature,  history,  and  natural  science  on 
one  side,  and  reading,  writing,  spelling,  and  language 
lessons  on  the  other. 

One  of  the  strongest  practical  arguments  in  favor 
of  a  closer  relation  between  studies  is  supplied  by 
this  relation  of  language  lessons  to  other  studies. 
Language  lessons,  as  a  separate  study,  are  justified 
on  the  ground  of  their  necessity  as  a  means  of  ac- 
quiring correct  forms  or  habits  of  oral  and  written 
language.  On  the  one  side  language  lessons  need 
to  draw  their  thought  materials  from  geography, 
history,  or  natural  science,  because  it  is  necessary  to 
have  abundant  and  interesting  thought  matter  in 
order  to  secure  free,  abundant,  and  varied  expression. 
On  the  other  hand,  language  lessons,  having  laid 
their  stress  and  drill  upon  certain  language  acquire- 
ments, turn  these  over  to  the  other  studies  by  which 


1/6  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

they  are  converted  into  permanent  habit.  Language 
drills  will  never  cure  the  bad  habits  of  children, 
unless  the  arithmetic,  geography  lessons,  etc.,  insist 
upon  the  application  and  practice  of  those  things 
drilled  upon  in  the  language  lesson.  It  is  entirely 
too  much  to  expect  that  language  lessons  can  over- 
come, with  their  brief  drills,  the  faults  which  are 
passed  over  uncorrected  in  all  the  other  exercises  of 
the  school.  The  fundamental  principle  here  is,  that 
what  is  learned  and  drilled  upon  in  one  study  is 
learned  for  the  purpose  of  applying  it  in  all  other 
recitations  and  studies.  If  this  is  not  true,  the 
thing  learned  is  not  worth  learning.  Knowledge  is 
for  use,  and  it  is  hypocrisy  and  inconsistency  to 
emphasize  a  thing  as  important  in  one  study  and 
then  neglect  it  in  all  others.  On  this  principle, 
therefore,  language  lessons  are  buttressed  on  two 
sides  by  the  other  studies ;  they  draw  their  invigorat- 
ing thought  materials  from  the  other  studies,  and  they 
depend  also  upon  the  other  studies,  for  making  their 
drills  finally  and  permanently  efficient  in  the  chil- 
dren's habits. 

Third.  The  relations  between  the  school  studies 
and  the  home  life  (including  all  the  experiences  of  a 
child  outside  of  school)  are  multitudinous,  and,  with 
the  emphasis  now  placed  upon  apperception  and 
upon  child-study  generally,  the  importance  of  these 
relations  is  much  better  understood.  Most  of  a 
child's   real   knowledge   of    persons   and    things    is 


CORRELATION  1 77 

derived  from  experiences  outside  of  school.  It  is 
largely  the  business  of  the  school  to  work  over  these 
ideas  and  incorporate  them  into  school  studies.  In 
building  up  character,  also,  the  school  and  home  must 
work  together. 

At  home  or  among  companions,  perhaps  unknown 
to  the  teacher,  a  boy  or  girl  may  be  forming  a 
habitual  tendency  and  desire,  more  powerful  than 
any  other  force  in  his  life,  and  yet  at  variance  with 
the  best  influence  of  the  school.  If  possible  the 
teacher  should  draw  the  home  and  school  into  a 
closer  bond,  so  as  to  get  a  better  grasp  of  the  situa- 
tion and  its  remedy.  The  school  will  fail  to  leave 
an  effective  impress  upon  such  a  child  unless  it  can 
get  a  closer  hold  upon  the  sympathies  and  thus  neu- 
trahze  an  evil  tendency.  It  must  league  itself  with 
better  home  influences  so  as  to  implant  its  own  im- 
pulses deeper  in  home  life.  How  to  unify  home  and 
school  influences  is  one  of  those  true  and  abiding 
problems  of  education  that  appeals  strongly  and 
sympathetically  to  parents  and  teachers. 

Fourth.  Looking  at  the  school  course  as  a  whole, 
the  amount  of  successful  correlation  depends  upon 
the  wisdom  of  those  who  lay  out  the  course  of  study 
with  a  view  to  proper  correlations.  When  a  course 
of  study  has  been  laid  out  upon  this  basis,  bringing 
the  great  threads  or  cables  of  human  knowledge  into 
proper  juxtaposition  at  the  various  points,  we  shall 
be  much  better  able  to  organize  and  unify  knowledge. 


178    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

In  other  words,  the  number  and  variety  of  impor- 
tant relations  between  different  studies  which  can 
be  brought  out  in  instruction,  depends,  to  a  very 
large  extent,  upon  the  grouping  of  the  different 
studies  with  reference  to  one  another  in  the  original 
plan  of  the  course  of  study.  Take  any  one  year  of 
the  school  course,  and  the  number  of  proper  and 
significant  relations  between  the  studies  depends 
almost  wholly  upon  the  selection  of  materials  in  the 
different  studies,  with  a  view  to  multiplying  opportu- 
nities for  close  connection.  If,  for  example,  we  plan 
to  study  in  fifth  grade  the  early  history  of  the  thir- 
teen colonies  and  their  settlements,  also  the  geog- 
raphy of  the  Atlantic  states  and  of  North  America ; 
if,  at  the  same  time,  we  read  Hawthorne's  "  Grand- 
father's Chair,"  the  "  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish," 
"  Hiawatha,"  and  other  related  historical  and  literary 
matter,  if  the  language  lessons  are  derived  from 
history,  literature,  and  science,  if  the  science  topics 
deal  with  the  plants,  animals,  and  geology  peculiar 
to  the  same  geographical  regions,  we  should  have  an 
equally  valuable  body  of  material  and  a  much  better 
chance  to  organize  it.  If,  on  the  other  basis,  we 
study  the  early  history  of  America,  the  geography 
of  Asia  and  Africa,  for  reading  take  "Gulliver's 
Travels,"  "The  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome,"  and  a 
Fourth  Reader,  and  select  for  lessons  in  science, 
language,  and  drawing  topics  unrelated  to  each  other 
and  to  the  other  studies,  we  may  have  just  as  good 


CORRELATION  1 79 

materials  but  a  poor  chance  to  organize  it.  Would 
it  be  extravagant  to  say  that  a  year's  work  properly 
planned  and  correlated  would  give  ten  times  as  many 
significant  relations  as  a  plan  which  ignored  such  a 
principle  ? 

Fifth.  Even  after  a  good  general  plan  is  com- 
plete, the  studies  well  selected  and  arranged,  the 
real  work  of  correlation  consists  in  observing  and 
fixing  the  relations  as  the  facts  are  learned.  It  is 
but  half  the  work  to  learn  the  facts.  The  other  and 
more  important  half  consists  in  understanding  the 
facts  by  fixing  the  relations.  This  depends  upon  the 
skill  and  thoughtfulness  of  the  teacher  in  the  pro- 
cesses of  instruction. 

We  will  next  discuss  the  series  of  reasons  assigned 
for  a  better  selection  and  organization  of  the  school 
studies  so  as  to  secure  a  closer  correlation  in  the 
details  of  instruction. 

I.  The  unity  of  the  personality  as  gradually 
developed  in  a  child  by  wise  education  is  essential 
to  strength  of  character.  Acker  man  says  on  this 
point  ("Ueber  Concentration,"  p.  20):  — 

"  In  behalf  of  character  development,  which  is  the 
ultimate  aim  of  all  educative  effort,  pedagogy  re- 
quires of  instruction  that  it  aid  in  forming  the  unity 
of  the  personality,  the  most  primitive  basis  of  char- 
acter. In  requiring  that  the  unity  of  the  personal- 
ity be  formed,  it  is  presupposed  that  this  unity  is 
not  some  original  quality,  but  something  to  be  first 


l80  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

developed.  It  remains  for  psychology  to  prove  this 
and  to  indicate  in  what  manner  the  unity  of  the 
personality  originates.  Now,  psychology  teaches 
that  the  personality,  the  ego,  is  not  something 
original,  but  something  that  must  be  first  developed, 
and  is  also  changeable  and  variable.  In  infancy  the 
ego,  the  personality,  is  consciously  realized  in  one 
person  sooner,  in  another  later.  In  the  different 
ages  of  life,  also,  the  personality  possesses  a  differ- 
ent content.  The  deeper  cause  for  the  mutual  refer- 
ence of  all  our  manifold  ideas  to  each  other  and  for 
their  union  in  a  single  point,  as  it  were,  may  be 
found  in  the  simplicity  of  the  soul,  which  constrains 
into  unity  all  things  that  are  not  dissociated  by 
hindrance  or  contradiction.  The  soul,  therefore,  in 
the  face  of  the  varied  influences  produced  by  con- 
tact with  nature  and  society,  is  active  in  concentrat- 
ing its  ideas,  so  that  with  mental  soundness  as  a 
basis,  the  ego,  once  formed,  in  spite  of  all  the  transi- 
tions through  which  it  may  pass,  still  remains  the 
same." 

There  is  then  a  natural  tendency  of  the  mind  to 
unify  all  its  ideas,  feelings,  incentives. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  knowledge  and  experiences 
of  life  are  so  varied  and  seemingly  contradictory, 
that  a  young  person,  if  left  to  himself  or  if  sub- 
jected to  a  wrong  schooling,  will  seldom  work  his 
way  to  harmony  and  unity.  In  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  soul  is  a  simple  unit  and  tends  naturally 


CORRELATION  l8l 

to  unify  all  its  contents,  the  common  experience  of 
life  discovers  in  it  unconnected  and  even  antago- 
nistic thought  and  knowledge  centres.  People  are 
sometimes  painfully  surprised  to  see  how  the  same 
mind  may  be  lifted  by  exalted  sentiments  and  de- 
pressed by  the  opposite.  The  frequent  examples 
that  come  to  notice  of  men  of  superiority  and  virtue 
along  certain  lines,  who  give  way  to  weakness  and 
wrong  in  other  directions,  are  sufficient  evidence 
that  good  and  evil  may  be  systematically  cultivated 
in  the  same  character,  and  that  instead  of  unity  and 
harmony  education  may  collect  in  the  soul  hetero- 
geneous and  warring  elements  which  make  it  a 
battle-ground  for  life.  All  such  disharmony  and 
contradiction  lend  inconsistency  and  weakness  to 
character.  Not  only  can  incompatible  lines  of 
thought  and  of  moral  action  become  established  in 
the  same  person,  but  even  those  studies  which  could 
be  properly  harmonized  and  unified  by  education 
may  lie  in  the  mind  so  disjointed  and  unrelated  as 
to  render  the  person  awkward  and  helpless  in  spite 
of  much  knowledge.  In  unifying  the  various  parts 
of  school  education,  and  in  bringing  them  into  close 
connection  with  children's  other  experiences,  the 
school  hfe  fulfils  one  of  its  chief  duties. 

An  analogy  may  be  drawn  between  the  growth  of 
knowledge  in  the  mind  and  the  construction  of  a 
building.  We  say  that  all  a  child's  knowledge  finds 
its  centre  and  unity  in  the  conscious  self  or   ego. 


l82    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

The  ego  has  partaken  of  all  these  experiences,  re- 
members them  as  parts  of  its  own  life,  and  this 
memory  is  the  thread  that  binds  all  together  in 
one  personality.  Now  in  the  construction  of  a  large 
stone  or  brick  building  we  find  division  of  labor 
and  materials  among  stone  and  brick  masons,  hod 
carriers,  plumbers,  plasterers,  contractors,  architects, 
etc.  There  is  a  certain  degree  of  isolation  in  the 
separate  parts  of  the  work ;  the  stone-cutters  are 
busy  in  one  place  upon  their  materials,  the  brick- 
masons  have  their  place  and  tools  and  work,  the 
carpenters  likewise ;  the  work  and  the  materials  are 
isolated  for  convenience.  But  underneath  all  this 
variety  of  materials  and  work  is  the  unifying  plan 
of  the  architect,  followed  out  by  the  contractors. 
Not  a  man's  work  or  materials  but  have  their  place, 
not  a  stroke  of  work  done  but  to  a  specific  end. 
Everything  moves  as  regulated  by  the  plan  that 
unifies  the  whole,  even  to  its  smallest  details. 

In  this  case,  we  may  say  that  the  principle  of  unifica- 
tion is  fundamental,  the  idea  of  isolation  incidental. 
As  a  child  builds  up  the  body,  the  complex  of  his 
knowledge  and  experience,  should  there  be  less  or 
more  of  unity  than  in  the  construction  of  a  build- 
ing.'' The  nervous  system  looked  upon  as  part  of 
an  organism  is  more  closely  unified  than  any  build- 
ing. The  brain,  as  a  nervous  centre,  dominates  the 
whole,  as  an  absolute  monarch  from  a  throne,  issuing 
orders.     Now,  as  we  venture  to  peep  into  the  citadel 


CORRELATION  1 83 

of  the  mind  itself,  shall  we  look  for  isolation  or  for 
unification  ?  What  is  the  normal  condition  ?  What 
is  the  condition  of  power  and  efficiency  ?  Organiza- 
tion, association,  and  close  linking  together  of  all  the 
mental  resources,  or  isolation,  separation  into  inacces- 
sible parts,  division  of  resources,  etc.  ? 

2.  If  there  is  one  dominant  aim  in  education,  then 
the  school  studies  should  be  combined  and  focussed 
in  the  direction  of  that  aim.  If  all  the  studies  and 
exercises  of  the  school  should  have  an  ethical  centre, 
that  is,  should  tend  toward  the  strengthening  of 
ethical  principles  as  the  central  stronghold  of  a 
child's  character,  then  closer  nexus  and  interrelation 
are  demanded. 

In  discussing  the  general  aim  of  education  in 
Chapter  I,  we  found  the  difficulty  not  in  setting  up 
the  aim  but  rather  in  bringing  it  into  close  relation 
to  all  the  other  essential  purposes  of  education.  To 
make  ethical  ideas  clear  to  children  is  not  specially 
difficult,  but  to  bring  ethical  ideas  into  vital  touch 
with  the  various  fields  of  knowledge,  with  mental 
discipHne,  with  aesthetic  sentiment  in  literature  and 
art,  and  especially  with  conduct,  is  the  most  difficult 
and  important  problem  in  education.  Clearly  defined 
ethical  ideas  must  stand  in  the  centre  of  conscious- 
ness and  shed  their  light  in  all  directions  over  the 
fields  of  knowledge.  This  means,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  organization  of  all  knowledge  and  experience 
around  ethical  ideas  as  centres  of  influence.     This 


(■ 


^NiVtRSl-py    ) 


1 84    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

means  that  the  chief  lines  of  habit  in*  thought  and 
in  action  must  be  brought  into  harmony  with  ethical 
standards. 

The  greater,  then,  the  number  of  clear  mental 
relations  of  a  fact  to  other  facts  in  the  same  and 
in  other  studies,  the  more  likely  it  is  to  render  instant 
obedience  to  the  will  when  it  is  needed.  Su'ch  ready 
mastery  of  one's  past  experiences  and  accumulations 
promotes  confidence  and  power  in  action.  Concen- 
tration is  manifestly  designed  to  give  strength  and 
decision  to  character.  But  a  careless  education,  by 
neglecting  this  principle,  by  scattering  the  mind's 
forces  over  broad  fields,  and  by  neglecting  the  con- 
necting roads  and  paths  that  should  bind  together 
the  separate  fields,  can  actually  undermine  force 
and  decision  of  character. 

3.  It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  call  attention  to 
the  laws  of  association  as  establishing  the  natural 
paths  and  highways  of  the  mind's  activities,  tending 
always  toward  unity;  of  the  fact  that  all  study  is 
a  study  of  relations,  if  insight  is  reached ;  that  mental 
assimilation  is  association,  organization  of  knowledge, 
synthesis,  and  the  association  by  cause  and  effect 
which  gives  us  the  cross-roads  between  the  sciences. 

We  are  not  conscious  of  the  constant  dependence 
of  our  thinking  and  conversation  upon  the  laws  of 
association.  It  may  be  frequently  observed  in  the 
familiar  conversation  of  several  persons  in  a  com- 
pany.    The  simple   mention   of   a   topic  will   often 


CORRELATION  1 85 

suggest  half  a  dozen  things  that  different  ones  are 
prompted  to  say  about  it,  and  may  even  give  direc- 
tion to  the  conversation  for  a  whole  evening.  Now, 
if  it  is  true  that  ideas  are  more  easily  remembered 
and  used  if  associated,  let  us  increase  the  associa- 
tions. Why  not  bind  all  the  studies  and  ideas  of 
a  child  as  closely  together  as  possible  by  natural 
lines  of  association  ?  Why  not  select  for  reading 
lessons  those  materials  which  will  throw  added  light 
upon  contemporaneous  lessons  in  history,  botany, 
and  geography  ?  Then  if  the  reading  lesson  pre- 
sents in  detail  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain,  take 
the  pains  to  refer  to  this  part  of  the  history  and 
put  this  lesson  into  connection  with  historical  facts 
elsewhere  learned.  If  a  reading  lesson  gives  a  full 
description  of  the  palm  tree,  its  growth  and  use, 
what  better  setting  could  this  knowledge  find  than 
in  the  geography  of  Northern  Africa  and  the  West 
Indies } 

4.  Without  laying  any  undue  stress  upon  simple 
knowledge,  we  believe  that  a  small  amount  of  well- 
articulated  knowledge  is  more  valuable  than  a  large 
amount  of  loose  and  fragmentary  information.  A 
small,  disciplined  police  force  is  able  to  cope  with 
a  large,  unorganized  mob. 

Frank  McMurry,  in  "  Relation  of  Natural  Science 
to  Other  Studies,"  says:  — 

"The  very  important  principle  here  involved  is 
that  the  value  of  knowledge  depends  not  only  upon 


1 86         THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

the  distinctness  and  accuracy  of  the  ideas,  but  also 
upon  the  closeness  and  extent  of  the  relations  into 
which  they  enter.  This  is  a  fundamental  principle 
of  education.  It  was  Herbart  who  said,  *  Only  those 
thoughts  come  easily  and  frequently  to  the  mind 
which  have  at  some  time  made  a  strong  impression 
and  which  possess  numerous  connections  with  other 
thoughts.'  And  psychology  teaches  that  those  ideas 
which  take  an  isolated  station  in  the  mind  are  usually 
weak  in  the  impression  they  make,  and  are  easily 
forgotten.  A  fact,  however  important  in  itself,  if 
learned  without  reference  to  other  facts,  is  quite 
likely  to  fade  quickly  from  the  memory.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that  the  witticisms,  sayings,  and  scattered 
pieces  of  information,  which  we  pick  up  here  and 
there,  are  so  soon  forgotten.  There  is  no  way  of 
bringing  about  their  frequent  reproduction  when 
they  are  so  disconnected,  for  the  reproduction  of 
ideas  is  largely  governed  by  the  law  of  association. 
One  idea  reminds  us  of  another  closely  related  to  it; 
this  of  another,  etc.,  till  a  long  series  is  produced. 
They  are  bound  together  like  the  links  of  a  chain, 
and  one  draws  another  along  with  it  just  as  one  link 
of  a  chain  drags  another  after  it.  A  mental  image 
that  is  not  one  of  such  a  series  cannot  hope  to  come 
often  to  consciousness ;  it  must  as  a  rule  sink  into 
oblivion,  because  the  usual  means  of  calling  it  forth 
are  wanting. 

"  It  is  only  by  associating  thoughts  closely  that  a 


CORRELATION  1 87 

person  comes  to  possess  them  securely  and  have 
command  over  them.  One's  reproduction  of  ideas 
is  then  rapid  enough  to  enable  him  to  comprehend 
a  situation  quickly  and  form  a  judgment  with  some 
safety;  his  knowledge  is  all  present  and  ready  for 
use;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  one  whose  related 
thoughts  have  never  been  firmly  welded  together 
reproduces  slowly,  and  in  consequence  is  wavering 
and  undecided.  His  knowledge  is  not  at  his  com- 
mand, and  he  is  therefore  weak." 

5.  In  later  years,  when  we  consider  the  results  of 
school  methods  upon  our  own  character,  we  can  see 
the  weakness  of  a  system  of  education  which  lacks 
correlation,  a  weakness  which  shows  itself  in  a 
lack  of  retentiveness  and  of  ability  to  use  acquired 
knowledge.  We  are  only  too  frequently  reminded 
of  the  loose  and  scrappy  state  of  our  acquired  knowl- 
edge by  the  ease  with  which  it  eludes  the  memory 
when  it  is  needed.  To  escape  from  this  disagreeable 
consciousness  in  after  years,  we  begin  to  spy  out  a 
few  of  the  mountain  peaks  of  memory  which  still 
give  evidence  of  submerged  continents.  Around 
these  islands  we  begin  to  collect  the  wreckage  of 
the  past  and  the  accretions  of  later  study  and  ex- 
perience. A  thoughtful  person  naturally  falls  into 
the  habit  of  collecting  ideas  around  a  few  centres, 
and  of  holding  them  in  place  by  links  of  association. 
In  American  history,  for  instance,  it  is  inevitable 
that    our   knowledge   become   congested    in    certain 


1 88    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

important  epochs,  or  around  the  character  and  life 
of  a  few  typical  persons.  The  same  seems  to  be 
true  also  of  other  studies,  as  geography  and  even 
geometry.  The  failure  to  acquire  proper  habits  of 
thinking  is  also  exposed  by  the  experience  of  practi- 
cal life.  In  life  we  are  compelled  to  see  and  respect 
the  causal  relations  between  events.  We  must  cal- 
culate the  influences  of  the  stubborn  forces  and  facts 
around  us.  But  in  school  we  often  have  so  many 
things  to  learn  that  we  have  no  time  to  think.  At 
least  half  the  meaning  of  things  lies  not  in  them- 
selves, but  in  their  relations  and  effects.  Therefore, 
to  get  ideas  without  getting  their  significant  relations 
is  to  encumber  the  mind  with  ill-digested  material. 
A  sensible  man  of  the  world  has  little  respect  for 
this  kind  of  learning. 

One  reason  why  knowledge  is  so  poorly  under- 
stood and  remembered  is  because  its  real  application 
to  other  branches  of  knowledge,  whether  near  or 
remote,  is  so  little  observed  and  fixed.  Looking 
back  upon  our  school  studies  we  often  wonder  what 
botany,  geometry,  and  drawing  have  to  do  with  each 
other  and  with  our  present  needs.  Each  subject  was 
so  compactly  stowed  away  on  a  shelf  by  itself  that  it 
is  always  thought  of  in  that  isolation, — like  Hammer- 
fest  or  the  Falkland  Islands  in  geography,  —  out-of- 
the-way  places.  Are  the  various  sciences  so  distinct 
and  so  widely  separated  in  nature  and  in  real  life 
as   they  are  in  school  ?     An  observant  boy  in  the 


CORRELATION  1 89 

woods  will  notice  important  relations  between  animals 
and  plants,  between  plants,  soil,  and  seasons,  that 
are  not  referred  to  in  the  text-books.  In  a  carpenter 
shop  he  will  observe  relations  of  different  kinds  of 
wood,  metals,  and  tools  to  each  other  that  will  sur- 
prise and  instruct  him.  In  the  real  life  of  the  coun- 
try or  town  the  objects  and  materials  of  knowledge, 
representing  the  sciences  of  nature  and  the  arts  of 
life,  are  closely  jumbled  together  and  intimately 
dependent  upon  each  other.  The  very  closeness  of 
causal  and  local  connections,  and  the  lack  of  orderly 
arrangements  shown  by  things  in  life,  make  it  neces- 
sary in  schools  to  classify  and  arrange  into  sciences. 
But  it  is  a  vital  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  knowl- 
edge is  complete  when  classified  and  learned  in  this 
scientific  form.  Classification  and  books  are  but  a 
faulty  means  of  getting  a  clear  insight  into  nature 
and  human  life  or  society.  Knowledge  should  not 
only  be  mastered  in  its  scientific  classifications,  but 
also  constantly  referred  back  to  things  as  seen  in 
practical  life  and  closely  traced  out  and  fixed  in  those 
connections.  The  vital  connections  of  different 
studies  with  each  other  are  best  known  and  realized 
by  the  study  of  nature  and  society. 

In  later  life  we  are  convinced  at  every  turn  of  the 
need  of  being  able  to  recognize  and  use  knowledge 
outside  of  its  scientific  connections.  A  lawyer  finds 
many  subjects  closely  mingled  and  causally  related 
in  his  daily  business  which  were  never  mentioned 


190    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

together  in  text-books.  The  ordinary  run  of  cases 
will  lead  him  through  a  kaleidoscope  of  natural  sci- 
ence, human  life,  commerce,  history,  mathematics, 
literature,  and  law,  not  to  speak  of  less  agreeable 
things.  But  the  same  is  true  of  a  physician,  mer- 
chant, or  farmer,  in  different  ways.  Shall  we  answer 
to  all  this,  that  schools  were  never  designed  to  teach 
such  things  ?  They  belong  to  the  professions  or  to 
the  school  of  life,  etc. 

But  it  is  not  simply  in  professions  and  trades  that 
we  find  this  close  mingling  and  dependence  of  the 
most  divergent  sorts  of  knowledge,  this  unscientific 
mixing  of  the  sciences.  Everywhere  knowledge, 
however  well  classified,  is  one-sided  and  misleading, 
which  does  not  conform  to  the  conditions  of  real  life. 
A  wise  mother  in  her  household  has  a  variety  of 
problems  to  meet.  From  cellar  to  garret,  from 
kitchen  to  library,  from  nursery  to  drawing-room, 
her  good  sense  must  adapt  all  sorts  of  knowledge  to 
real  conditions.  In  bringing  up  her  children  she 
must  understand  physical  and  mental  orders  and 
disorders.  She  must  judge  of  foods  and  cooking, 
of  clothing,  as  to  taste,  comfort,  and  durability;  of 
the  exercises  and  employments  of  children,  etc. 
Whether  she  is  conscious  of  it  or  not,  she  must 
mingle  a  knowledge  of  chemistry,  psychology,  medi- 
cine, sanitation,  the  physics  of  light  and  air,  with  the 
traditional  household  virtues  in  a  sort  of  universal  solv- 
ent from  which  she  can  bring  forth  all  good  things  in 


CORRELATION 


191 


their  proper  time  and  place.  As  Spencer  says,  edu- 
cation should  be  a  preparation  for  complete  living. 
The  final  test  of  a  true  mastery  and  correlation 
of  knowledge  in  the  mind  is  the  ability  to  use  it 
readily  in  the  varied  and  tangled  relations  of  actual 
experience. 

The  final  and  conclusive  reason,  from  the  practical 
side,  is  that  real  life  demands  these  interrelations. 
The  isolation  of  studies  is  a  thing  not  found  in  the 
world  outside  of  the  schoolroom  and  of  scientific 
texts.  Whether  we  look  in  the  wilds  of  nature  or  in 
the  midst  of  populous  cities,  we  shall  nowhere  find 
things  so  beautifully  ordered  and  classified  and  iso- 
lated as  they  are  in  the  schoolroom  and  in  text- 
books. Nature  everywhere  mixes  and  tangles  the 
sciences.  Man,  in  his  practical  arts  and  activities, 
does  the  same.  Nature  does  not  put  all  the 
butterflies  in  one  field,  all  the  birds  in  another,  all 
the  plants  in  another,  and  all  the  sunshine  in 
another.  In  nature  we  find  great  life  societies  where 
all  these  forms  and  phases  of  organic  Ufe  and  inor- 
ganic matter  are  bound  together  by  the  closest  and 
tightest  causal  bonds.  The  druggist  in  his  store 
does  not  deal  with  simply  one  isolated  science,  the 
farmer  must  know  plants  and  animals,  weather  and 
markets,  machines  and  soils ;  the  physician  needs 
now  a  little  sunshine  in  his  heart,  now  a  little 
medicine  in  his  knapsack.  It  may  be  a  case  of  bone 
fracture,  or  of  mental  abnormality,  with  which  he  is 


192  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

suddenly  called  upon  to  deal.  The  druggist  or  the 
physician  must  first  master  each  science  in  its  scien- 
tific order  and  isolation,  and  there  is  no  other  road 
to  mastery.  But  the  application  of  scientific  knowl- 
edge is  always  in  a  world  where  things  are  not 
scientifically  ordered,  and  it  generally  takes  as  long 
to  learn  how  to  apply  a  science  as  it  does  to  learn  the 
science  itself. 

The  great  purpose  of  education,  as  generally 
admitted,  is  to  prepare  children  for  life.  Non  scholcB 
sed  vitcB  discimus.  Now,  if  children  learn  only  to 
recognize  things  in  their  scientific  form  and  isola- 
tion in  the  schoolroom,  how  shall  they  be  able  to 
disentangle  the  actual  relations  of  real  life }  Many 
of  the  things  learned  and  classified  in  the  school- 
room are  not  recognized  when  seen  by  children 
outside.  Why  should  the  school  tear  asunder  and 
leave  in  isolation  those  things  which  in  the  common 
experiences  of  men  are  bound  together  by  many 
important  and  vital  links  of  connection  t  We  repeat, 
scientific,  thoroughly  organized,  and  classified  knowl- 
edge is  indispensable,  but  it  is  never  the  goal  to  be 
set  up  for  the  studies  of  the  school  course.  It  is 
only  a  halfway  station  on  the  road  to  real  knowledge 
and  interpretation  of  life. 

The  criticism  certain  to  be  raised  against  us  is, 
that  we  fail  to  recognize  the  value  of  scientific 
knowledge.  Our  purpose,  however,  is  not  to  ques- 
tion  its  value,  but  to  discover   its   true   importance 


CORRELATION  I 93 

and  to  lay  proper  stress  upon  the  application  and 
use  of  knowledge.  It  goes  without  saying,  that  a 
large  share  of  the  knowledge  gained  in  schools 
finds  no  application  in  life.  The  reason  for  this 
is,  not  so  much  that  the  knowledge  gained  is  worth- 
less, as  that  it  has  not  been  organized  and  thought 
out  in  those  relations  that  correspond  to  the  usual 
conditions  of  life.  Knowledge  is  power  only  when 
it  can  be  turned  to  interpretative  use,  not  simply  in  the 
class  room  but  under  the  conditions  and  pressure  of 
life's  experience.  A  close  organization  and  practi- 
cal interrelation  of  all  the  phases  of  school  knowl- 
edge and  of  life  experience  is  the  only  thing  that 
can  give  a  person  a  ready  command  of  his  re- 
sources. 

Again,  the  reduction  of  different  kinds  of  knowl- 
edge to  scientific  system  in  separate  studies  must 
always  be  looked  upon  as  simply  a  means  to  an 
end.  The  great  end  in  view  in  every  study  is  to 
get  a  better  understanding  of  the  world  of  men 
and  things  around  us. 

6.  Science  itself,  however,  is  related  or  classified 
knowledge.  As  already  shown,  it  is  the  solid  basis 
for  the  sequence  of  topics  in  those  subjects  that 
admit  of  scientific  grouping  and  arrangement. 
There  is  no  conflict  between  plans  of  correlation 
and  proper  scientific  classifications ;  on  the  contrary, 
they  are  one  and  the  same  thing.  It  was  only  the 
narrow  and   exclusive   grouping  of   the  sciences,  in 


194  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

total  isolation  from  one  another,  that  tended  to 
weaken  correlation. 

In  the  last  few  years  the  scientists  themselves  have 
taken  a  great  step  in  advance  by  abandoning  the 
narrow  and  strict  classifications  of  a  generation  ago, 
and  by  treating  each  topic  broadly  in  its  relations  to 
other  sciences  and  studies.  It  is  no  longer  sufficient 
to  classify  a  tree  or  plant  in  a  system,  but  its  adapta- 
tion to  its  environment,  its  relations  to  soil,  sunlight, 
insects,  climate,  its  use  or  damage  to  man,  its  evolu- 
tion, etc.,  must  be  traced  out.  We  hear  much  of  the 
laws  which  govern  life  groups  and  societies  in  nature, 
in  their  mutual  relations,  involving  all  the  sciences 
to  some  extent  in  a  single  topic.  The  scientists 
themselves  have  broken  over  the  narrow,  scientific 
boundaries  which  hindered  them  from  tracing  out  the 
deeper  laws  of  nature,  which  are  correlations  of  the 
sciences,  and  the  schoolmaster  can  take  the  hint  and 
abandon  his  antiquated  theory  of  purely  isolated 
sciences. 

The  historian  is  no  longer  satisfied  to  follow  a  nar- 
row line  of  political  history.  He  must  see  the  rela- 
tions of  history  to  scientific  progress,  to  literature,  to 
social  customs ;  to  geography,  physiography,  to  eco- 
nomic laws,  to  education  and  religion,  and  to  many 
other  forces  in  society.  It  is  only  by  tracing  out  these 
wide  correlations  that  any  important  topic  nowadays 
can  be  understood. 

7.    The    multiplication  of   studies   in  the  common 


CORRELATION  1 95 

schools  in  recent  years  will  soon  compel  us  to  pay 
more  attention  to  correlation  or  the  mutual  relation 
of  knowledges.  There  is  a  resistless  tendency  to 
convert  the  course  of  studies  into  an  encyclopaedia  of 
knowledge.  To  perceive  this  it  is  only  necessary  to 
note  the  new  studies  incorporated  into  the  public 
school  within  a  generation.  In  spite  of  all  that  has 
been  said  by  educational  reformers  against  making 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge  the  basis  of  education, 
the  range  and  variety  of  studies  have  been  greatly 
extended  and  chiefly  through  the  influence  of  the 
reformers.  This  expansive  movement  appears  in 
schools  of  all  grades.  The  secondary  and  fitting 
schools  and  the  universities  have  spread  their  branch 
likewise  over  a  much  wider  area  of  studies.  We  are 
in  the  full  sweep  of  this  movement  along  the  whole 
line,  and  it  has  not  yet  reached  its  flood. 

The  simplicity  of  the  old  course,  both  in  the  com- 
mon school  and  in  higher  institutions,  is  in  marked 
contrast  to  the  present  multiplicity.  It  was  a  narrow 
current  in  which  education  used  to  run,  but  it  was 
deep  and  strong.  Strong  characters  have  often  been 
developed  by  a  narrow  and  rigid  training  along  a 
single  line  of  duty,  as  is  shown  in  a  case  of  the  Jesuits, 
the  Humanists,  and  the  more  recent  devotees  of  natu- 
ral science. 

As  contrasted  with  this,  the  most  striking  feature 
of  our  public  schools  now  is  their  shallow  and  super- 
ficial work.     It  is  probable  that  the  teaching  in  lower 


196    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

grades  is  better  than  ever  before,  but  as  the  tasks 
accumulate  in  the  higher  grades  there  is  a  great 
amount  of  smattering.  The  prospect  is,  however, 
that  this  disease  will  grow  worse  before  a  remedy  can 
be  applied.  The  first  attempt  to  cultivate  broader 
and  more  varied  fields  of  knowledge  in  the  common 
school  must  necessarily  exhibit  a  shallow  result. 
Teachers  are  not  familiar  with  the  new  subjects, 
methods  are  not  developed,  and  the  proper  adjust- 
ments of  the  studies  to  each  other  are  neglected. 
No  one  who  is  at  all  familiar  with  our  present  status 
will  claim  that  drawing,  natural  science,  geography, 
and  language  are  yet  properly  adjusted  to  each  other. 
The  task  is  a  difficult  one,  but  it  is  being  grappled 
with  by  many  earnest  teachers. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  first  serious  effort  to  remedy 
this  shallowness  will  be  made  by  deepening  and  in- 
tensifying the  culture  of  the  new  fields.  The  knowl- 
edge of  each  subject  must  be  made  as  complete  and 
detailed  as  possible.  Well-qualified  teachers  and 
specialists  will  of  course  accomplish  the  most.  They 
will  zealously  try  to  teach  all  the  important  things  in 
each  branch  of  study.  But  where  is  the  limit  ?  The 
capacity  of  children.  And  it  will  not  be  long  before 
philanthropists,  physicians,  reformers,  and  all  the 
friends  of  mankind  will  call  a  decisive  halt.  Children 
were  not  born  simply  to  be  stuffed  with  knowledge. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  we  must  steer  between 
Scylla  and  Charybdis,  or  that  we  are  in  a  first-class 


CORRELATION  1 97 

educational  dilemma.  This  conviction  is  strengthened 
by  the  reflection  that  there  is  no  escape  from  fairly 
facing  the  situation.  Having  once  put  our  hand  to 
the  plough,  we  cannot  look  back.  The  common  school 
course  has  greatly  expanded  in  recent  years,  and  there 
is  no  probability  that  it  will  ever  contract.  It  has 
expanded  in  response  to  proper  universal  educational 
demands.  For  we  may  fairly  believe  that  most  of 
the  studies  recently  incorporated  into  the  school 
course  are  essential  elements  in  the  education  of 
every  child  that  is  to  grow  up  and  take  a  due  share 
in  our  society.  It  is  too  late  to  sound  the  retreat. 
The  educational  reformers  have  battled  stoutly  for 
three  hundred  years  for  just  the  course  of  study  that 
we  are  now  beginning  to  accept.  The  edict  cannot 
be  revoked,  that  every  child  is  entitled  to  a  har- 
monious and  equable  development  of  all  its  human 
powers,  or,  as  Herbart  calls  it,  a  harmonious  culture  of 
many-sided  interests.  The  nature  of  every  child  im- 
peratively demands  such  broad  and  liberal  culture, 
and  the  varied  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  citi- 
zen make  it  a  practical  necessity.  No  narrow,  one- 
sided culture  will  ever  equip  a  child  to  act  a  just  part 
in  the  complex  social,  political,  and  industrial  society 
of  our  time.  But  the  demand  for  depth  of  knowl- 
edge is  just  as  imperative  as  that  for  comprehen- 
siveness. i> 

It  is  clear  that  two  serious   dangers  threaten  the 
quality  of   our   education :    first,   loose    and  shallow 


198    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

knowledge;  second,  overloading  with  encyclopaedic 
knowledge.  What  can  correlation  do  to  remedy 
the  one  and  check  the  other?  The  cure  for  these 
two  evils  will  be  found  in  so  adjusting  the  studies  to 
each  other,  in  so  building  them  into  each  other,  as  to 
secure  a  mutual  support.  The  study  of  a  topic  not 
only  as  it  is  affected  by  others  in  the  same  subject, 
but  also  by  facts  and  principles  in  other  studies,  is  an 
antidote  against  superficial  learning.  In  tracing  these 
causal  relations,  in  observing  the  resemblances  and 
analogies,  the  interdependence  of  studies,  as  geogra- 
phy, history,  and  natural  science,  a  thoughtfulness 
and  clearness  of  insight  are  engendered  quite  con- 
trary to  loose  and  shallow  study. 

Correlation  at  once  discards  the  idea  of  ency- 
clopaedic knowledge  as  an  aim  of  school  education. 
It  puts  a  higher  estimate  upon  related  ideas  and  a 
lower  one  upon  that  of  complete  or  encyclopaedic 
information.  All  the  cardinal  branches  of  education 
indeed  shall  be  taught  in  the  school,  but  only  the 
essential,  the  typical,  will  be  selected,  and  an  ex- 
haustive knowledge  of  any  subject  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. Correlation  will  put  a  constant  check  upon 
over-accumulation  of  facts,  and  will  rather  seek  to 
strengthen  an  idea  by  association  with  familiar  things 
than  to  add  a  new  fact  to  it.  No  matter  how  thorough 
and  enthusiastic  a  specialist  one  may  be,  he  is  called 
upon  to  curtail  the  quantity  of  his  subject  and  bring 
it  into  proper  dependence  upon  other  studies. 


CORRELATION 


199 


There  is  a  growing  conviction  among  teachers  that 
we  need  a  closer  articulation  of  studies  with  one 
another.  The  expansion  of  the  school  course  over 
new  fields  of  knowledge  and  the  multiplication  of 
studies  compel  us  to  seek  for  a  simplification  of  the 
course.  A  hundred  years  ago,  yes,  even  fifty  years 
ago,  it  was  thought  that  the  extension  of  our  territory 
and  government  to  the  present  limits  would  be 
impossible.  It  was  plainly  stated  that  one  govern- 
ment could  never  hold  together  people  so  widely 
separated.  Mr.  Fiske,  in  "The  Critical  Period  of 
American  History,"  p.  60,  says  :  — 

**  Even  with  all  other  conditions  favorable,  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  American  Union  could  have  been 
preserved  to  the  present  time  without  the  railroad. 
Railroads  and  telegraphs  have  made  our  vast  country, 
both  for  political  and  for  social  purposes,  more  snug 
and  compact  than  little  Switzerland  was  in  the  Middle 
Ages  or  New  England  a  century  ago." 

The  analogy  between  the  realm  of  government  and 
of  knowledge  is  not  at  all  complete,  but  it  suggests 
at  least  the  change  which  is  imperatively  called  for 
in  education.  In  education  as  well  as  in  commerce 
there  must  be  trunk  lines  of  thought  which  bring  the 
will  as  monarch  of  the  mind  into  close  communication 
with  all  the  resources  of  knowledge  and  experience. 
Indeed,  in  the  mind  of  a  child  or  an  adult  there  is 
much  stronger  necessity  for  centralization  than  in 
the  government  and  commerce  of  a  country.     The 


200    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

will  should  be  an  undisputed  monarch  of  the  whole 
mental  life.  It  is  the  one  centre  where  all  lines  of 
communication  meet.  London  is  not  so  perfect  a 
centre  for  the  commerce  and  finance  of  England  as  is 
the  conscious  ego  for  all  its  forms  of  experience. 

8.  On  account  of  the  multiplication  of  studies  in 
the  school  course  and  the  consequent  tendency  to 
shallowness,  it  is  necessary  to  employ  all  the  best 
means  for  economizing  time.  There  are  three  im- 
portant ways  in  which  the  correlation  of  studies  pro- 
duces economy  of  effort. 

First.  In  the  great  central  studies,  such  as  history, 
geography,  science,  and  reading,  the  tracing  of  relations 
from  one  study  into  another  gives  an  excellent  review, 
incidentally,  of  those  studies  into  which  the  relations 
are  traced.  In  reading  Holmes's  "Grandmother's 
Story  of  Bunker  Hill "  in  the  regular  reading  work, 
there  is  an  excellent  review  of  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill  in  history  and  of  the  geography  of  Boston.  A 
like  advantage  is  found  in  reading  "  The  Courtship  of 
Miles  Standish,"  "The  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome,"  "The 
Lady  of  the  Lake  "  "  Marmion,"  "  Hiawatha,"  the 
stories  of  Ulysses,  of  William  Tell,  "  Evangeline,"  and 
many  other  excellent  poems  and  stories  used  in  our 
reading  work.  In  studying  the  geography  of  the 
Rhine  River,  there  is  an  incidental  review  of  topics  in 
history  and  literature  suggested  by  the  great  fortresses, 
ruined  castles,  Gothic  churches,  cities,  and  monuments. 
A  similar  statement  may  be  made  about  most  of  the 


CORRELATION  201 

important  topics  in  geography.  The  peculiar  advan- 
tage of  such  incidental  reviews  is  that  they  present 
these  old  topics,  in  other  studies,  from  a  new  and 
interesting  point  of  view.  The  incidental  reviews 
produce  a  decided  economy  by  diminishing  the 
amount  of  time  necessary  in  the  ordinary  reviews  of 
those  studies.  At  the  same  time,  by  increasing  the 
important  connections  between  topics,  they  greatly 
aid  the  memory  in  holding  all  the  facts  together. 

Second.  In  the  important  series  of  secondary 
studies,  such  as  language  lessons,  drawing,  spelling, 
writing,  and  some  phases  of  arithmetic  and  reading, 
there  is  a  great  economy  of  time  in  correlating  these 
studies  as  closely  as  possible  with  the  central  studies, 
history,  geography,  science,  and  literature.  Lan- 
guage lessons  should  derive  their  topics  almost 
exclusively  from  the  real  studies  just  named.  A 
language  lesson  based  upon  the  study  of  the 
Rhine  River  in  geography  is  much  better  than 
one  based  upon  nothing  in  particular,  or  upon  some 
outside  topic  having  no  other  relation  to  the  present 
work  of  the  school.  Such  a  correlated  lesson  gives 
much  more  interesting  thought  content  to  the  lan- 
guage lesson  and  is,  at  the  same  time,  the  best 
possible  review  of  the  geography.  The  drawing 
lessons  in  a  similar  way  are  of  great  value  in  giving  a 
more  definite  expression  to  many  topics  in  history, 
science,  and  geography.  It  is  the  most  natural  thing 
in  the  world  for  children  to  desire  to  draw  primitive 


202    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

houses,  forts,  boats,  ships,  buildings,  churches,  tools, 
machines,  industrial  processes,  and  striking  his- 
torical scenes  in  which  they  have  become  interested 
through  other  studies.  These  topics,  derived  from 
other  studies,  furnish  the  best  impulse  and  motive  to  the 
drawing  lessons,  and  at  the  same  time  give  a  clearness 
and  sharp  review  which  are  of  great  value  to  the 
other  studies.  There  are  also  many  lessons  in  geog- 
raphy, history,  and  science  where  arithmetical  com- 
putations are  necessary.  The  supplementary  readers 
in  history,  geography,  and  science  are  proofs  of  the 
economy  which  can  be  easily  practised  in  these  studies. 
In  music,  patriotic  and  religious  songs,  also  those 
based  upon  human  activities,  natural  scenery,  history, 
and  literature,  may  greatly  reenforce  leading  ideas  in 
those  studies. 

Third.  In  some  cases  the  correlation  is  so  close 
and  the  dependence  of  one  study  upon  another  so 
complete  that  certain  studies  have  been  partly  or 
wholly  eliminated  from  the  school  course  as  inde- 
pendent studies.  This  is  best  illustrated  by  what 
used  to  be  known  as  object  lessons,  which  for  many 
years  constituted  an  independent  branch  of  study  in 
schools.  It  was  gradually  discovered  that  all  studies 
need  to  be  objectively  illustrated,  and  therefore  the 
different  phases  of  object  study  have  been  absorbed 
into  the  various  studies  where  they  belong. 

In  many  schools  the  exercises  in  drawing  and 
writing  have  been  largely  incorporated  into  the  writ- 


CORRELATION  203 

ten  work  necessary  in  the  other  studies.  Many  of 
the  best  educators  think  that  there  should  be  no 
independent  drawing  lessons  below  the  fourth  or  the 
fifth  grade.  The  drawing  work  should  be  wholly 
subordinated  in  the  lower  grades  to  the  expression 
of  thought  in  the  chief  studies.  In  quite  a  number 
of  progressive  schools  number  work  has  been  dropped 
as  an  independent  study  in  the  first  two  years,  its 
place  being  taken  by  the  correlated  number  exercises 
in  constructive  work,  in  weather  study,  and  in  other 
phases  of  nature  study. 

Manual  training  and  constructive  work  have  been 
pressing  their  way  into  the  schools,  more  recently,  in 
all  the  grades  from  the  primary  through  the  high 
school.  Reasoning  by  the  analogy  of  the  object 
lessons,  there  seem  to  be  good  reasons  for  believing 
that  manual  training  will  lose  its  place  as  an  inde- 
pendent study  below  the  high  school.  In  all  the 
important  studies  there  is  more  or  less  demand  for 
motor  activity,  for  drawing,  making  and  constructing 
the  objects,  or  their  models,  which  become  interesting 
centres  of  study.  This  power  to  realize  the  objects 
of  study  in  some  concrete  and  objective  form  is  vital 
to  the  best  study.  It  sets  children  to  work  in  the 
final  stage  of  educative  effort,  the  execution  of  thought 
in  action  and  creative  effort.  It  may  be,  therefore, 
that  in  connection  with  manual  training  and  con- 
structive exercises  we  shall  have  not  a  new  study  or 
group  of  studies,  but  a  deeper  stimulation  to  a  strong 


204    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

and  vital  grasp  of  the  old  studies.  This  will  be  a 
double  economy. 

Art  studies  are  also  pushing  their  way  into  the 
schools  and  are  demanding  a  good  deal  of  attention 
from  progressive  teachers,  for  they  will  be  of  the 
very  greatest  value  in  setting  before  children  the 
most  worthy  and  stimulating  objects  of  thought.  But 
their  greatest  value  will  be  found  in  the  enrichment 
they  bring  to  the  old  studies.  Like  manual  training 
they  should  be  absorbed  into  the  present  body  of  school 
studies. 

In  the  three  important  ways  just  described  and 
illustrated  the  proper  correlation  of  studies  is  destined 
to  bring  about  a  great  simpHfication  of  the  school 
course  and  a  most  encouraging  economy  of  time  and 
effort.  The  problem  of  correlation  is  difficult  and 
many-sided,  but  it  promises  in  the  end  great  relief  to 
overburdened  teachers  and  pupils. 

Such  an  examination  of  the  mutual  relations  and 
courtesies  between  studies  as  is  outlined  above,  may 
also  discover  to  us  the  fact  that  we  are  now  uncon- 
sciously or  thoughtlessly  duplicating  the  work  of 
studies  to  a  surprising  extent.  We  make  two  sets 
of  drawing  lessons  where  one  set  would  answer  the 
purpose  much  better.  By  isolating  the  language 
lessons  and  by  cutting  them  off  from  communication 
with  history,  geography,  and  natural  science,  we  get 
several  sets  of  language  lessons,  one  in  language 
proper,  and  others  in  geography,  history,  etc.,  for  it 


CORRELATION  205 

is  necessary  to  use  correct  language,  and  to  drill  for 
it,  if  needed,  in  all  studies.  The  drills,  however,  being 
distributed  over  a  larger  area  of  subjects,  will  be  much 
less  effective  and  will  require  more  time. 

The  same  scattering  of  effort  and  waste  of  time  is 
noticed  also  in  the  spelHng  and  writing.  If  manual 
training  is  erected  into  an  independent  study,  we  have 
there  also  the  double  series  of  manual  exercises,  one 
in  the  manual  training  proper,  unrelated  to  the  other 
studies,  and  the  other  in  the  series  of  constructions 
called  for  in  geography,  history,  and  natural  science. 

Moreover,  by  excluding  an  interesting  subject-mat- 
ter derived  from  other  studies,  the  interest  and  mental 
life  awakened  by  language  lessons,  drawing,  etc.,  are 
reduced  to  a  minimum ;  the  work  is  sluggish  and  life- 
less, and  time  is  squandered. 

Is  it  within  the  range  of  healthy  child-thought  to 
associate  ideas  in  different  studies  and  to  see  the 
value  of  the  connections  ?  Have  children  the  capac- 
ity and  the  disposition  to  relate  ideas,  to  think .?  The 
answer  to  this  question  lies  with  those  who  know 
and  appreciate  children  best,  who  have  watched 
them  judiciously  in  their  studies  and  voluntary  em- 
ployments. In  the  decision  of  this  question  teachers 
can  afford  to  weigh  their  own  experience  as  well  as 
the  testimony  of  authorities. 

Take  children  from  intermediate  or  grammar  grades, 
what  kind  of  study  in  geography  or  history,  or  natu- 
ral science,  puts  them  to  their  best  thinking  and  self- 


206    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

activity  ?  Are  they  predominantly  receptive,  simply 
accumulating  the  materials  of  thought  for  later  use, 
or  are  children  thinkers  ?  There  is  a  strong  disposi- 
tion now  among  some  teachers  and  among  psycholo- 
gists to  look  upon  boys  and  girls  as  exhibiting  from 
childhood  up  all  the  essential  phases  of  mental  activ- 
ity. There  is  very  little  doubt,  for  example,  that 
children  do  some  excellent  reasoning  and  thinking 
before  they  enter  school  at  six.  It  is  a  conviction 
with  many  that  school  children  are  not  only  capable 
of  exercising  a  rational  judgment  and  thought  power, 
but  that  the  very  life  of  instruction  depends  prima- 
rily upon  this  thought-stimulating  process.  Simply  to 
learn  and  stow  away  facts  is  a  dull  and  burdensome 
employment,  but  to  look  for  reasons,  to  see  and  under- 
stand necessary  connections,  to  discover  resemblances, 
important  associations,  and  laws,  is  the  very  relish  of 
knowledge-gaining.  Intelligent  boys  and  girls  are 
no  more  satisfied  with  simply  learning  facts  than  in- 
telligent men  and  women  are.  Children  learn  to 
think,  under  normal  conditions,  about  as  fast  as  they 
accumulate  the  materials  of  thought. 

And  yet  in  such  a  discussion  dogmatism  is  all  out 
of  place,  for  the  world  can  no  longer  be  imposed 
upon  by  anybody's  dogmas.  The  children  are  ever 
present  with  us.  Thousands  of  teachers  and  parents 
are  at  work  upon  the  materials  at  first  hand,  and 
every  thoughtful  teacher  must  in  the  end  decide  the 
question  for  himself. 


CORRELATION  207 

Are  teachers  undertaking  too  much  when  they 
assume  to  train  children  to  think?  At  the  best, 
teachers  can  only  supply  the  favorable  conditions 
for  mental  activity  in  children.  Those  opposed  to 
the  emphasis  we  place  upon  correlation  and  concen- 
tration stand  in  fear  of  an  artificial  effort  of  teachers 
to  portion  out  and  mingle  the  ingredients  of  study. 
But  we  do  not  propose  to  do  the  child's  thinking  for 
him.  He  must  eat  his  own  food  and  digest  it  accord- 
ing to  his  own  capacity.  The  process  by  which  a  child 
accumulates  and  assimilates  the  materials  of  knowl- 
edge must  be  his  own  process  of  thought. 

The  function  of  the  teacher  is  to  provide  the  suit- 
able materials  and  to  render  the  conditions  as  favor- 
able as  possible  to  the  child's  exercise  of  his  own 
mental  forces.  The  teacher  is,  at  best,  only  a  care- 
ful, judicious  supervisor  of  a  natural  process.  And 
yet  it  will  be  generally  acknowledged  that  the  kind 
of  thinking  done  by  the  children  will  depend  chiefly 
upon  the  teacher's  plan  of  arranging  and  handling 
the  materials.  The  purpose  of  the  teacher's  plan 
and  method  is  to  engender  self-activity,  to  throw  a 
child  upon  his  own  resources  in  accumulating  and 
interpreting  knowledge  and  experience.  These 
phrases  about  self-activity  are  easy  and  cheap. 
But  what  do  they  stand  for  in  our  work  with  chil- 
dren.?  How  are  they  to  become  open-eyed,  clear- 
headed, and  self-reliant  as  they  meet  and  absorb  the 
experiences  of  school  and  home  ?     Is  the  education 


208    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

of  children  chiefly  dogmatic  on  the  part  of  teachers 
and  receptive  on  the  part  of  children,  or  is  it  a  pro- 
cess of  thought  stimulation  and  invigorating  self- 
activity  ?  Thinking  relations  between  studies,  the 
broader  survey  of  every  topic  handled  in  every  study 
in  all  its  relations  north  and  south,  east  and  west,  up 
and  down  —  all  this  means  more  self -activity,  more 
rational  self-help,  or  it  means  nothing. 

Lessing,  in  his  tractate  on  the  use  of  the  fable, 
says : — 

"  Why  is  it  in  all  sciences  and  arts  there  is  such  a 
dearth  of  inventive  and  self-reliant  thinkers  ?  This 
question  is  best  answered  with  another.  Why  are 
we  not  better  educated  ?  God  gives  us  a  soul,  but 
genius  (clear  thinking)  we  must  acquire  through  edu- 
cation. A  boy  whose  entire  mental  powers  are  devel- 
oped and  broadened  out  in  due  proportion,  who  is 
taught  rapidly  to  compare  all  that  he  adds  to-day  to 
his  little  store  of  knowledge  with  what  he  already 
learned  yesterday,  and  is  on  the  lookout  to  see 
whether  by  this  comparison  he  does  not  arrive  at 
things  for  himself  not  told  him  before ;  who  is  per- 
mitted constantly  to  glance  over  from  one  science 
into  another;  who  is  taught  to  rise  just  as  easily  from 
the  particular  to  the  general,  as  to  descend  from  the 
general  to  the  particular  —  this  boy  will  become  a 
genius  (a  clear  thinker)  or  one  cannot  become  any- 
thing at  all  in  this  world." 

This  passage  from  Lessing  is  an  emphatic  demand 


CORRELATION  209 

for  the  exercise  of  thought  power  in  children.  It  is 
an  unequivocal  and  absolute  call  for  mental  alertness 
and  originality  and  many-sided  survey  of  knowledge 
as  fast  as  it  accumulates.  So  far  from  being  satisfied 
with  mere  inventories  in  elementary  instruction,  it 
leaps  at  once  to  the  more  important  demand  for 
elaboration  of  knowledge  in  self-active  effort.  It  is 
a  plain  demand  for  constant  thoughtfulness  and  sur- 
vey, glancing  ever  from  study  to  study,  from  school 
to  life,  from  particular  to  general,  and  vice  versa.  It 
calls  for  intelligent  assimilation  of  ideas  at  every 
stage  of  progress. 

Historically  considered,  the  principle  of  concentra- 
tion has  been  advocated  and  emphasized  by  many 
writers  and  teachers.  The  most  striking  and  decided 
attempt  to  apply  it  was  made  by  Jacotot  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  had  great 
success  in  France.  Mr.  Joseph  Payne,  in  interpret- 
ing Jacotot  ('*  Lectures  on  the  Science  and  Art  of 
Education,"  p.  339),  lays  down  as  his  main  precept, 
**  Learn  something  thoroughly  and  refer  everything 
else  to  it."  He  emphasized  above  everything  else 
clearness  of  insight  and  connection  between  the  parts 
of  knowledge.  It  was  principally  applied  to  the 
study  of  languages,  and  called  for  perfect  memoriz- 
ing by  incessant  repetition  and  rigid  questioning  by 
the  teacher.  The  purpose  was  to  insure  perfect 
understanding,  in  the  first  instance,  of  new  facts 
acquired;    and   secondly,    firm    association   with   all 


2IO         THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

previous  knowledge.  Jacotot  and  his  disciples 
reached  notable  results  by  a  heroic  and  consistent 
application  of  this  principle,  and  some  of  our  present 
methods  in  language  are  based  upon  it.  But  on  the 
whole,  the  principle  was  only  partially  and  mechani- 
cally applied.  Its  aim  was  primarily  intellectual, 
even  Hnguistic,  not  moral.  There  was  no  philo- 
sophical effort  made  to  determine  the  relative  value 
of  studies  and  thus  find  out  what  study  or  series  of 
studies  best  deserved  to  take  the  leading  place  in  the 
school  course.  The  importance  of  interest,  as  a 
means  of  rousing  mental  vigor  and  as  a  criterion  for 
selecting  concentrating  materials  suited  to  children 
at  different  ages,  was  overlooked. 

A  kind  of  concentration  has  long  been  practised 
in  Germany,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  in  our  own 
schools,  which  is  known  as  the  concentric  circles. 

In  our  schools  it  is  illustrated  by  the  treatment  of 
geography,  grammar,  and  history.  In  beginning  the 
study  of  geography  in  the  third  or  fourth  grade  it 
has  been  customary  to  outline  the  whole  science  in 
the  first  primary  book.  The  earth  as  a  whole  and 
its  daily  and  yearly  motion,  the  chief  continents  and 
oceans,  the  general  geographical  notions,  mountain, 
lake,  river,  etc.,  are  briefly  treated  by  definition  and 
illustration.  Having  completed  this  general  frame- 
work of  geographical  knowledge  during  the  first 
year,  the  second  year,  or  at  least  the  second  book, 
takes  up  the  same  round  of  topics  again  and  enters 


CORRELATION  211 

into  a  somewhat  fuller  treatment  of  continents,  coun- 
tries, states,  and  political  divisions.  The  last  two 
years  of  the  common  school  may  be  spent  upon  a 
large,  complete  geography,  which,  with  larger,  fuller 
maps  and  more  names,  gives  also  a  more  detailed 
account  of  cities,  products,  climate,-  political  divisions, 
and  commerce.  Finally,  physical  geography  is  per- 
mitted to  spread  over  much  the  same  ground  from  a 
natural  science  standpoint,  giving  many  additional 
and  interesting  facts  and  laws  concerning  zones, 
volcanoes,  ocean  beds  and  currents,  atmospheric  phe- 
nomena, geologic  history,  etc.  The  same  earth,  the 
same  lands  and  oceans,  furnish  the  outHne  in  each 
case,  and  we  travel  over  the  same  ground  three  or 
four  times  successively,  each  time  adding  new  facts  to 
the  original  nucleus.  There  is  an  old  proverb  that 
"repetition  is  the  mother  of  studies,"  and  here  we 
have  a  systematic  plan  for  repetition,  extending 
through  the  school  course,  with  the  advantage  of 
new  and  interesting  facts  to  add  to  the  grist  each 
time  it  is  sent  through  the  mill.  It  is  an  attractive 
plan  at  first  sight,  but  if  we  appeal  to  experience, 
are  we  not  reminded  rather  that  it  was  dull  repetition 
of  names,  boundaries,  map  questions,  location  of 
places,  etc.,  and  after  all  not  much  detailed  knowl- 
edge was  gained,  even  in  the  higher  grades  ?  Again, 
is  it  not  contrary  to  reason  to  begin  with  definitions 
and  general  notions  in  the  lower  grades  and  end  up 
with  the  interesting  and  concrete  in  the  higher  ? 


212  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

In  the  language  lessons  and  grammar  it  has  been 
customary  to  learn  the  kinds  of  sentence  and  the 
parts  of  speech  in  a  simple  form  in  the  third  and 
fourth  grades,  and  in  each  succeeding  year  to  review 
these  topics,  gradually  enlarging  and  expanding  the 
definitions,  inflections,  and  constructions  into  a  fuller 
etymology  and  syntax.  In  the  United  States  history 
we  are  beginning  to  adopt  a  similar  plan  of  repeti- 
tions, and  the  frequent  reviews  in  arithmetic  are  de- 
signed to  make  good  the  lack  of  thoroughness  and 
mastery  which  should  characterize  each  successive 
grade  of  work.  The  course  of  religious  instruction 
given  in  European  schools  is  based  upon  the  same 
reiteration  year  by  year  of  essential  religious  ideas. 
The  whole  plan,  as  illustrated  by  different  studies,  is 
based  upon  a  successive  enlargement  of  a  subject  in 
concentric  circles,  with  the  implied  constant  repeti- 
tion and  strengthening  of  leading  ideas.  A  frame- 
work of  important  notions  in  each  branch  is  kept 
before  the  mind  year  after  year,  repeated,  explained, 
and  enlarged,  with  faith  in  a  constantly  increasing 
depth  of  meaning.  There  is  no  doubt  that  under 
good  teaching  the  principle  of  the  concentric  circles 
produces  some  excellent  fruits,  a  mastery  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  a  concentration  of  ideas  within  the  limits 
of  a  single  study. 

The  disciples  of  Herbart,  while  admitting  the 
merits  of  the  concentric  circles,  have  subjected  the 
plan  to  a  severe  criticism.     They  say  it  begins  with 


CORRELATION  213 

general  and  abstract  notions  and  puts  off  the  inter- 
esting details  to  the  later  years,  while  any  correct 
method  with  children  will  take  the  interesting  particu- 
lars first,  will  collect  abundant  concrete  materials,  and 
by  a  gradual  process  of  comparison  and  induction 
reach  the  general  principles  and  concepts  at  the  close. 
It  inevitably  leads  to  a  dull  and  mechanical  repeti- 
tion instead  of  cultivating  an  interesting  comparison 
of  new  and  old  and  a  thoughtful  retrospect.  It  is  a 
clumsy  and  distorted  application  of  the  principle  of 
apperception,  of  going  from  the  known  to  the  un- 
known. Instead  of  marching  forward  into  new  fields 
of  knowledge  with  a  proper  basis  of  supplies  in  con- 
quered fields,  it  gleans  again  and  again  in  fields 
already  harvested.  For  this  reason  it  destroys  a 
proper  interest  by  hashing  up  the  same  old  ideas  year 
after  year.  Finally,  the  concentric  circles  are  not 
even  designed  to  bring  the  different  school  studies 
into  relation  to  each  other.  At  best  they  contribute 
to  a  more  thorough  mastery  of  each  study.  They 
leave  the  separate  branches  of  the  course  isolated 
and  unconnected,  an  aggregation  of  unrelated  thought 
complexes.  True  correlation  should  leave  them  an 
organic  whole  of  intimate  knowledge-relations,  con- 
ducing to  strength  and  unity  of  character. 


CHAPTER  V 

INDUCTION 

We  are  now  prepared  to  inquire  into  the  mind's 
method  of  approach  to  any  and  all  subjects.  We 
have  considered  the  aim  of  education,  the  value  of 
different  subjects  as  helping  toward  that  aim,  the 
natural  interests  which  give  zest  to  studies,  and  finally 
the  general  plan  of  combining  and  relating  topics  so 
as  to  bring  about  unity  of  purpose  and  unity  of  mat- 
ter in  the  mind.  As  a  child  enters  upon  the  work 
of  acquisition  are  there  any  regulatives  to  guide  the 
process  of  learning .? 

Induction,  or  the  concept-bearing  process,  shows 
the  tendency  of  our  minds  to  advance  from  the  inspec- 
tion of  particular  objects  and  actions  to  the  under- 
standing of  general  notions  or  concepts.  The  study 
and  analysis  of  this  process  casts  us  forthwith  into 
the  midst  of  psychology,  and  calls  for  a  knowledge 
of  that  succession  and  network  of  mental  activities 
discussed  in  all  the  psychologies  :  sensation,  discrimi- 
nation, perception,  analysis  and  synthesis,  compari- 
son, judgment,  generalization  or  concept,  reasoning. 
An   inquiry  into  these  mental   activities,  which  are 

214 


among  the  most  important  in  psychology,  is  necessary 
as  a  basis  of  induction  and  of  general  method. 

But  even  the  more  profound  study  of  psychology 
does  not  necessarily  give  insight  into  correct  methods 
of  teaching.  Many  great  psychologists  have  had 
little  or  no  interest  in  teaching.  Even  eminent  spe- 
cialists in  electricity  and  chemistry  have  not  often 
been  those  to  draw  the  immediate  practical  benefit 
from  their  studies.  The  application  of  psychology 
to  the  work  of  instruction  constitutes  a  distinct  field 
of  inquiry  and  experiment.  The  output  of  the  best 
experimental  thinking  in  this  direction  may  be  called 
pedagogy. 

The  process  of  induction  or  concept-building  leads 
the  mind,  as  above  indicated,  through  a  series  of  dif- 
ferent acts.  We  may  first  observe  how  far  the  mind 
is  naturally  inclined  to  follow  this  process,  and 
whether  it  is  a  mark  of  healthy  mental  action  in  chil- 
dren and  in  adults.  Later,  we  may  examine  more 
closely  the  successive  stages  in  the  process  itself. 

To  get  at  the  natural  process  it  is  well  to  observe 
first  the  action  of  a  child's  mind.  By  analyzing  a 
simple  case  of  a  farmer's  child  we  may  trace  the  men- 
tal steps  in  forming  a  general  notion.  So  long  as  it 
has  seen  no  barn  except  that  on  its  father's  farm,  the 
word  "  barn  "  means  to  it  only  that  particular  object. 
But  when  it  discovers  that  one  of  the  neighbors  has  a 
similar  building  called  a  barn,  it  learns  to  put  these 
different   objects  under  one   head,  and   the  general 


2l6  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

notion  "  barn  "  as  a  building  for  horses,  cattle,  and  feed 
gradually  rises  in  the  mind.  Long  before  the  child 
is  six  years  old  (school  age)  it  may  have  seen  enough 
of  such  barns  for  the  general  notion  to  be  distinctly 
formed.  By  observing  the  different  objects,  by  com- 
paring and  grouping  similar  things  together,  it  has 
formed  a  general  notion  in  a  regular  process  of  in- 
duction, and  that  without  any  help  from  teachers. 

At  two  and  three  years  of  age,  or  as  soon  as  a  child 
begins  to  recognize  and  name  new  objects  (because 
of  their  resemblance  to  things  previously  seen)  this 
tendency  to  concept-building  is  manifest.  Another 
illustration  :  The  child  has  seen  the  family  horse  sev- 
eral times,  till  the  word  "horse"  becomes  associated 
with  that  animal.  While  out  walking  it  sees  another 
horse,  and  pointing  its  finger  says  "horse."  The 
memory  of  the  first  horse  and  the  similarity  calls 
forth  the  natural  conclusion  that  this  is  a  horse, 
though  it  may  not  be  able  to  formulate  the  sentence. 
More  horses  are  seen  and  compared,  till  the  word 
becomes  the  name  of  a  whole  class  of  animals.  By  a 
gradual  process  of  observation,  comparison,  and  judg- 
ment the  word  "horse"  comes  to  stand  for  a  large 
group  of  objects  in  Nature. 

A  child's  mind  is  naturally  very  active  in  detecting 
resemblances  and  in  grouping  similar  objects  together. 
It  notices  that  there  are  certain  people  called  "women," 
others  called  "men"  ;  that  certain  animals  are  called 
"  sheep,"  others  "  cattle."   One  class  of  objects  receives 


INDUCTION  217 

the  name  "  book,"  another  "  stove,"  etc.  The  work  of 
observing,  comparing,  and  classifying  is  a  perpetual 
operation  in  the  child's  active  moods.  In  this  way 
what  may  appear  at  first  as  an  interminable  confusion 
or  blur  of  objects  in  Nature  begins  to  fall  into  groups 
and  classes  with  appropriate  names.  It  is  the  child's 
own  way  of  bringing  order  out  of  the  apparent  chaos 
of  his  surroundings.  All  this  process  of  classification 
is  natural  and  nearly  unconscious,  and  results  in  a 
better  understanding  and  interpretation  of  the  things 
around  him. 

Observe  next  the  work  of  an  adult,  and  how  he  in- 
creases and  arranges  his  knowledge.  If  he  is  an 
incipient  dry-goods  merchant,  he  learns  by  sight  and 
touch  to  detect  the  quality  of  goods.  He  compares 
and  classifies  his  experiences  and  becomes  in  time  an 
expert  in  judging  textile  fabrics.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  becomes  acquainted  by  personal  contact  with  vari- 
ous customers,  and  learns  how  to  classify  and  judge 
them  both  as  buyers  and  as  debtors. 

If  a  botanist  finds  a  new  plant,  he  examines  its 
stem,  leaves,  root,  flower,  seed,  and  environment. 
While  entering  into  these  details  he  is  also  comparing 
it  with  familiar  classes  of  plants.  Finally,  he  is  not 
satisfied  till  he  can  definitely  locate  it  in  his  previous 
system.  With  every  new  plant  that  he  discovers  he 
travels  over  the  whole  road  from  the  individual  par- 
ticulars to  the  general  classes  of  his  whole  system. 
The  merchant  and  the  scientist  follow  out  with  pains- 


2l8    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

taking  care  and  industry  the  same  course  which  was 
involuntarily  taken  by  the  child ;  namely,  observation 
of  particulars,  comparing,  and  grouping  into  classes. 
The  same  habit  of  mind  may  be  observed  in  all 
people  who  are  growing  knowledge-ward  and  who 
possess  any  thoughtful  instincts.  In  building  up 
concepts,  especially  with  the  adult,  induction  is  con- 
stantly mingled  with  deduction.  As  fast  as  general 
notions  are  formed  they  are  used  to  interpret  new 
objects.  As  the  amount  of  this  organized  and  classi- 
fied knowledge  increases,  we  reason  more  and  more 
deductively. 

In  acquiring  knowledge  along  the  line  of  induction, 
we  are  on  the  road  to  the  solution  of  the  puzzle  that 
Nature  puts  to  the  child.  To  every  infant,  indeed, 
the  world  is  an  enormous  riddle  or  puzzle,  whose 
parts  lie  in  fragments  about  him,  waiting  the  opera- 
tion of  his  curious  and  inventive  mind  toward  the 
reconstruction  of  the  whole.  Endless  variety  and 
complexity  confront  us  all  in  the  beginning.  There 
is  indeed  an  order  and  classification  of  things  in  Na- 
ture, but  it  does  not  appear  on  the  surface,  and  for 
centuries  men  remained  ignorant  of  the  underlying 
harmony.  Nature  is  full  of  valuable  secrets,  but  they 
lie  concealed  from  the  careless  eye.  They  are  to  be 
detected  by  prying  deeper  into  individual  facts,  by 
putting  a  thing  here  and  a  thing  there  together, 
by  pondering  on  the  relationship  of  things  to  each 
other  in  their  nature,  appearance,  and  cause.     It  is  a 


INDUCTION  219 

remarkable  fact  that  we  not  only  increase  knowledge 
best  by  analyzing,  comparing,  and  classifying  objects, 
experience,  and  phenomena,  —  even  into  old  age, — 
but  that  the  deeper  we  penetrate  into  the  individual 
qualities  and  inner  nature  of  objects,  the  more  we 
extend  and  classify  our  information,  the  simpler  all 
the  operations  of  Nature  become  to  our  understand- 
ing. The  surprising  simplicity  and  unity  of  Nature 
in  her  varied  phenomena  is  one  of  the  mature  prod- 
ucts of  scientific  study.  The  most  scientific  thinker, 
then,  is  only  trying  to  reduce  to  a  simple  explanation 
the  same  puzzle  which  confronted  the  infant  in  its 
cradle.  The  problem  is  the  same  and  the  method 
similar. 

It  is  plain  that  the  process  of  classifying  objects 
and  phenomena  in  Nature  and  in  society  is  the  begin- 
ning of  scientific  knowledge.  A  child  begins  to  learn 
as  soon  as  it  notices  the  resemblances  in  things  and 
arranges  them  into  groups.  It  will  appear  later  that 
the  mind  does  not  follow  a  strictly  logical  method  in 
gaining  its  groups,  that  it  falls  into  natural  errors 
and  misconceptions ;  but  in  spite  of  these  eccentric 
movements,  the  general  trend  is  toward  classifications 
and  toward  the  language  symbols  that  express  them. 
In  this  power  to  associate,  classify,  and  symbolize 
the  products  of  experience  in  words  is  seen  the 
marked  difference  between  man  and  the  animals. 
The  latter  have  little  power  to  compare  and  gen- 
eralize, that  is,  to  think.     On  a  still  higher  plane,  the 


220    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

difference  between  a  careless,  loose  observer  and  a 
well-trained  scientific  thinker  is  largely  a  difference 
in  accuracy,  in  inductive  and  deductive  processes. 

The  important  thing  for  the  teacher  to  determine 
is  whether  this  inductive  or  concept-building  tendency 
furnishes  any  solid  ground  upon  which  to  base  the 
work  of  instruction.  Admitting  that  it  is  a  natural 
process,  common  to  both  old  and  young  in  acquiring 
knowledge,  perhaps  it  can  be  neglected  because  it 
will  take  care  of  itself.  If  it  is  self-active,  needing 
no  artificial  stimulus,  let  it  alone.  On  the  contrary, 
if  in  a  healthy  pursuit  of  knowledge,  it  brings  the 
varied  mental  powers  into  a  natural  sequence  where 
they  will  strengthen  and  support  one  another,  it 
should  be  studied  and  used  by  teachers.  It  would 
be  very  commonplace  to  say  that  each  of  the  faculties 
or  activities  involved  in  the  induction  process  should 
be  disciplined  and  strengthened  by  school  studies. 
There  is  but  little  difference  of  opinion  on  this  sub- 
ject, though  some  would  lay  more  stress  upon  sense 
training,  some  on  memory,  some  on  reasoning.  The 
ground  for  this  general  conviction  is  the  notorious 
fact  that  with  children  every  one  of  these  acts  is  per- 
formed in  a  faulty  and  superficial  manner.  The 
observations  of  children  are  very  careless  and  unreli- 
able. Even  adults  are  extremely  negligent  and  inaccu- 
rate in  their  observations  of  natural  objects,  persons, 
and  phenomena.  But  the  mental  powers  brought  to 
bear  in  observation  are  simple  and  elementary.     The 


INDUCTION  221 

exercise  of  higher  mental  powers,  such  as  analysis, 
comparison,  judgment,  and  reasoning,  is  prone  to  be 
still  more  accidental  and  erroneous. 

Acknowledging,  then,  the  necessity  for  training  all 
these  powers,  how  can  it  best  be  done  ?  Not  by 
delegating  to  each  study  the  cultivation  of  one  kind 
or  set  of  mental  activities,  but  by  observing  that  the 
same  general  process  underlies  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  in  each  subject,  and  that  all  the  kinds  of 
mental  life  are  brought  into  action  in  nearly  every 
study.  In  short,  the  inductive  process  is  a  natural 
highway  of  human  thought  in  every  line  of  study, 
bringing  all  the  mental  forces  into  an  orderly,  succes- 
sive, healthful  activity.  We  may  yet  discover  that 
the  inductive  process  not  only  gives  the  key  to  an 
interesting  method  of  mastering  different  branches  of 
knowledge,  but  in  developing  mental  activity  it  brings 
the  various  mental  powers  into  a  strong  natural 
sequence.  One  of  the  great  ends  of  intellectual 
culture  is  gradually  to  transform  this  careless,  un- 
conscious, inductive  tendency  in  children  into  the 
painstaking  and  exact  scrutiny  of  the  student,  and 
later  of  the  specialist. 

Although  the  inductive  process  is  a  common  high- 
way of  thought  in  all  stages  of  intellectual  growth 
from  childhood  to  maturity,  certain  parts  of  the  road 
are  much  more  frequently  travelled  in  childhood,  and 
still  others  in  youth  and  maturity.  It  is  the  work  of 
pedagogy  to  adapt  its  materials  to  these  changing 


222  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

phases  of  soul  life  in  children.  In  the  analysis  of 
the  inductive  and  deductive  processes  we  desire  to 
come  at  the  solution  of  this  problem. 

Considered  as  a  whole,  there  is  a  simple  phase  of 
the  inductive  process  which  is  best  explained  by  the 
terms  "absorption  "  and  "reflection."  It  appears  in 
the  study  of  simple  as  well  as  of  complex  objects,  and 
indicates  clearly  the  fundamental  rhythm  of  the  mind 
in  acquiring  and  elaborating  its  knowledge.  This 
action  of  the  mind  is  a  shuttle-like  movement,  a  con- 
stant running  back  and  forth  between  two  extremes, 
absorption  and  reflection.  We  will  test  this  statement 
upon  examples.  When  we  are  in  the  mood  for  learn- 
ing, let  some  new  object,  a  saw-mill,  attract  the  atten- 
tion. A  quick  general  glance  at  the  place  and  its 
surroundings  tells  us  what  it  is.  Now  trace  the 
operation  of  the  mill  as  it  draws  up  the  logs  singly 
from  the  rafts  lying  on  the  margin  of  the  river  and 
converts  them  into  lumber.  You  observe  first  how 
the  logs  are  carried  up  an  inclined  slide  by  means  of 
an  endless  chain  and  hooks,  into  the  mill.  You  ex- 
amine this  first  piece  of  machinery  and  notice  its 
mode  of  action.  As  the  logs  enter  the  upper  story 
of  the  mill,  they  are  thrown  by  heavy  levers  to  either 
side  and  roll  down  toward  the  saws.  Here  is  another 
piece  of  machinery  in  its  proper  place.  Having  been 
stripped  of  the  loose  pieces  of  bark,  the  logs  are 
grasped  by  another  set  of  iron  hands,  lifted  firmly  to 
the  carriage  and  passed  to  the  circular  or  band  saw, 


INDUCTION  223 

which  takes  off  the  side  slabs  and  squares  them  for 
the  gang-saw.  The  squared  logs  are  then  carried 
along  over  rollers  and  collected  before  the  gang- 
saws.  From  two  to  four  of  them  are  clasped  firmly 
together  and  then  forced  up  against  the  teeth  of  the 
parallel  group  of  saws,  issuing  from  them  as  a  batch 
of  lumber.  The  boards  are  then  passed  on  to  a  set 
of  men  at  small  circular  saws,  by  whom  they  are 
sorted  and  the  edges  trimmed,  while  still  others  with 
trucks  carry  them  to  the  yard  for  stacking. 

Take  note  of  the  operation  of  the  mind  as  it  passes 
from  one  part  of  the  machinery  to  another.  Each 
part  is  first  examined  by  itself  to  get  its  construction 
and  method.  Then  its  relation  to  what  precedes  and 
what  follows  is  noted.  Finally,  in  review,  you  survey 
the  whole  process  in  its  successive  stages,  and  under- 
stand each  part  and  its  relation  to  the  whole  and  to 
the  purpose  of  the  mill.  We  might  call  this  an  analy- 
sis and  synthesis  of  the  process  of  making  lumber,  or, 
in  other  words,  absorption  and  reflection.  In  the 
observation  of  such  a  complex  piece  of  machinery  as 
a  large  mill,  the  mind  swings  back  and  forth  many 
times  between  absorption  in  the  study  of  parts  and 
reflection  upon  their  relation  to  each  other. 

Having  examined  the  mill  in  detail,  and  grasped 
its  parts  as  a  connected  whole,  the  next  step  is  to 
observe  its  relation  to  the  river,  to  the  rafts  and 
rafting-boats,  and,  farther  back,  to  the  pineries  and 
logging-camps  up  the  river.      (Northern  Minnesota 


224    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

and  Wisconsin.)  The  occupation  and  sights  along 
the  Upper  Mississippi  and  its  head  waters,  the  pin- 
eries, and  even  the  spring  floods,  are  intimately  con- 
nected, causally,  with  the  saw-mills  and  lumber  yards 
lower  down.  Or  going  in  the  opposite  direction  from 
the  saw-mill,  we  follow  the  lumber  till  it  is  used  in  the 
various  forms  of  construction.  Some  of  it  enters  the 
planing-mills  and  is  converted  into  mouldings,  finish- 
ing-lumber, sashes,  blinds,  etc.  In  all  forms  it  is 
loaded  upon  the  cars,  and  shipped  westward  to  be 
used  in  the  construction  of  houses  and  bridges. 

Before  we  get  through  with  the  line  of  thought 
engendered  by  observing  the  saw-mill,  we  have  can- 
vassed the  whole  lumber  industry  from  the  pineries  to 
the  plans  of  architects  and  builders  in  the  actual  work 
of  construction.  Not  only  has  there  been  this  prog- 
ress of  the  mind  from  one  object  or  machine  to  an- 
other of  a  series  connected  by  cause  and  effect,  but 
there  has  been  also  a  constant  tendency  to  pass  from 
the  individual  machines  of  which  the  series  is  com- 
posed to  the  classes  of  which  these  objects  are  typi- 
cal. A  circular  saw  or  a  gang-saw  is  each  typical  of 
a  class  of  saws.  The  same  is  true  of  each  part  of 
the  machinery,  as  well  as  of  the  saw-mill  or  planing- 
mill  considered  as  a  whole.  Each  of  these  objects, 
whether  simple  or  complex,  suggests  others,  similar, 
which  we  have  observed  or  seen  represented  in  pic- 
tures. Each  part  of  the  machinery  in  turn  becomes 
the  centre  of  a  set  of  comparisons  leading  from  the 


INDUCTION  225 

concrete  object  in  question  to  the  general  notion  of 
the  class  to  which  it  belongs.  For  example,  the  steam 
engine  in  a  mill  is  typical  of  all  stationary  engines 
used  for  driving  machinery.  But  the  parts  of  the 
engine  are  also  typical  of  similar  parts  in  other  engines 
and  machines,  as  the  drive-wheel,  cylinder,  boiler,  etc. 

In  all  these  cases  we  become  absorbed  in  one  thing 
for  a  while,  only  to  recover  ourselves  and  to  reflect 
upon  the  thing  in  its  wider  relations,  either  tracing 
out  connections  of  cause  and  effect,  as  in  a  series  of 
machines,  or  passing  from  the  single  example  to  the 
class  of  which  it  is  typical,  —  absorption  and  reflec- 
tion. The  mind  swings  back  and  forth  like  a  pendu- 
lum between  these  two  operations.  Herbart,  who 
closely  defined  this  process,  called  it  the  mental  act 
of  breathing,  because  of  the  constancy  of  its  move- 
ment. As  regularly  as  the  air  is  drawn  into  the  lungs 
and  again  expelled,  so  regularly  does  the  mind  lose 
itself  in  its  absorption  with  objects  only  to  recover 
itself  and  reflect  upon  them. 

In  the  inspection  of  a  large  printing-press  in  one 
of  our  newspaper  publishing  houses  we  meet  with  a 
similar  experience.  The  attention  becomes  centred 
upon  the  press  for  a  close  analysis  and  synthesis  of 
its  parts.  The  cogs,  wheels,  rollers,  inking-plate,  the 
cases  for  the  type,  the  application  of  the  power,  the 
springs  and  levers,  each  part  receives  a  close  inspec- 
tion, and  the  secret  of  its  connection  with  other  parts 
is  sought  for. 

Q 


226    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

There  is  a  vigorous  effort  not  only  to  understand 
each  part,  but  also  the  connection  of  the  whole.  The 
shuttle-like  movement  of  the  mind  back  and  forth  be- 
tween the  parts,  absorbed  for  a  moment,  reflecting 
for  a  moment,  continues  until  the  complex  mechanism 
is  understood.  When  this  process  has  been  satisfac- 
torily completed,  we  are  ready  to  turn  our  minds 
again  to  the  other  objects  and  rooms  of  the  printing 
establishment.  The  work  of  the  compositors,  setting 
up  different  kinds  of  type,  the  proof-reading,  the  edi- 
torial work,  the  reporters,  all  come  in  for  a  share  of 
attention.  The  reporters  lead  us  to  the  great  world 
outside,  whose  happenings  are  brought  here  for  pub- 
lication. On  the  other  hand,  following  the  distribu- 
tion of  papers  as  they  issue  from  the  press,  we  think 
of  newsboys,  news-stands,  mail-service,  railroads,  and 
postoffices.  But  the  inspection  of  a  printing-press 
also  leads  the  thoughts  in  other  directions  and  sug- 
gests other  presses,  great  and  small,  in  other  times 
and  places,  other  printing  establishments,  until  the 
whole  business  of  printing  and  publishing  books  and 
papers  springs  into  the  thought.  If  we  desire  to 
understand  clearly  the  business  of  publishing  a  news- 
paper, we  must  enter  into  an  observation  of  the  parts 
of  the  process  from  the  collection  of  its  news  to  its 
distribution  by  the  mails  and  carriers.  Besides  not- 
ing these  parts  we  must  observe  their  causal  connec- 
tion with  each  other  and  the  r61e  that  each  plays  in 
the  economy  of  the  whole.     The  causal  series  thus 


INDUCTION  227 

clearly  outlined  produces  insight  into  an  occupation, 
while  every  typical  machine  or  appliance  is  one  of  a 
cross  series  intercepting  the  original  series. 

The  acquisition  and  assimilation  of  knowledge  in 
different  subjects  will  be  found  to  exhibit  the  mental 
states  of  absorption  and  reflection  as  just  illustrated. 
Observe  the  manner  in  which  we  study  a  poem.  It 
is  first  read  and  interpreted  sentence  by  sentence, 
glancing  from  verse  to  verse  to  get  the  connections. 
When  the  whole  piece  has  been  read  and  understood 
in  its  parts  and  connections,  the  suggested  lines  of 
thought  are  taken  up  and  followed  out  in  their  wider 
applications.  Take,  for  example,  the  "  Burial  of 
Moses,"  and  in  the  proper  analysis  and  study  of  the 
poem  such  a  process  of  absorption  and  reflection  is 
observable/ In  tracing  the  biography  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,  or  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  the  facts  of  per- 
sonal experience  and  action  at  first  absorb  the  atten- 
tion from  step  to  step  in  the  study  of  his  life.  But 
reflection  on  the  bearings  of  the  personal  events, 
upon  contemporaries  and  upon  public  affairs,  is  no- 
ticed all  along.  The  same  mental  process  is  observed 
in  studying  a  battle  in  historv/a  sentence  in  grammar, 
a  squirrel  in  natural  history,  or  a  picture  in  art. 

The  effect  of  such  mental  absorption  and  reflection 
is  to  build  up  concepts.  /  Series  of  causally  related 
parts  are  also  formed,  but  each  series  in  the  end 
becomes  a  more  complete  complex  concept,  that  is, 
a  representative  of  many  similar  series.     The  inspec- 


228  THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

tion  of  one  printing  establishment  suggests  others, 
which  are  brought  into  comparison,  till  the  general 
notion  "publishing  house"  is  more  clearly  conceived. 
The  same  is  true  in  the  lumber  trade.  The  concept 
"  lumber  business  "  is  not  confined  to  Minneapolis  or 
Chicago,  but  is  common  to  the  great  lake  region, 
Maine,  Washington,  Norway,  and  other  countries. 
Concepts  become  more  varied  and  complex  with  the 
advance  of  studies,  and  there  is  scarcely  anything  we 
learn  by  observation  or  reflection  that  does  not  ulti- 
mately illustrate  and  build  up  our  concepts.  The 
observation  of  even  the  miscellaneous  objects  in  a 
large  city  leads  to  a  variety  of  concepts,  and  in  the 
end,  by  comparison,  to  the  general  notion  "  city." 

How  strong  the  concept-creating  tendency  of  all 
experience  and  thought  is,  can  be  seen  in  the  words 
of  language.  The  processes  of  thought  become  pet- 
rified in  language.  All  progress  in  knowledge  and 
acquisition  of  new  ideas  is  reflected  in  language  by 
an  increase  of  words.  But  an  examination  of  words 
in  common  use  will  show  that  they  are  nearly  all  the 
names  of  concepts.  Proper  names  are  the  principal 
exception.  Every  common  noun,  verb,  adjective, 
adverb,  and  preposition  is  the  name  of  a  concept; 
for  example,  horse,  beauty,  to  steal,  running,  over, 
early,  yellow,  grape,  ocean,  etc.  To  understand 
these  concepts  there  must  be  somewhere  a  progress 
from  the  individual  to  the  abstract,  an  induction  from 
particulars  to  a  general  concept. 


INDUCTION  ^^9 

Abstract  or  general  notions  cannot  be  acquired  at 
first  hand  without  specific  illustrations.  Even  where 
the  deductive  process  is  supposedly  employed,  a  closer 
examination  will  uncover  the  concrete  or  individual 
illustrations  in  the  background,  and  until  these  are 
reached  the  concept  has  no  clear  meaning.  The  con- 
crete examples,  whether  introduced  sooner  or  later  by 
way  of  explanation,  are  the  real  basis  of  the  under- 
standing of  the  concept.  It  is  customary  to  invert 
the  inductive  process  and  to  drive  it  stern  forward 
through  grammar,  geography,  and  other  studies. 
Take,  for  example,  the  word  "  boomerang  "  as  it  comes 
up  in  a  geography  or  reading  lesson.  Webster's 
dictionary,  which  is  recommended  to  children  as  a 
first  resort  in  such  difificulties,  calls  it  "  A  remarkable 
missile  weapon  used  by  the  natives  of  Australia." 
This  gives  a  faint  notion  by  using  the  familiar  word 
"weapon."  The  picture  accompanying  the  word  in 
the  dictionary  gives  a  more  accurate  idea  because 
nearer  the  concrete.  The  best  possible  explanation 
would  be  a  real  boomerang  thrown  by  a  native  South 
Sea  Islander.  In  the  absence  of  these,  a  picture  and 
a  vivid  description  are  the  best  means  at  our  disposal. 
The  common  mistake  is  in  learning  and  reciting  the 
definition  while  neglecting  the  concrete  basis.  By 
way  of  further  illustration,  try  to  explain  to  children, 
who  have  never  heard  of  them  before,  the  egg-plant, 
palm  tree,  cactus,  etc. 

It  would  be  of  interest  to  inquire  into  the  process 


230  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

of  concept-building  in  each  of  the  school  studies, 
where  it  appears  under  quite  varying  forms.  The 
natural  sciences  are  perhaps  the  best  examples  of 
concept-building  from  concrete  materials,  advancing 
regularly  through  a  series  of  concepts  from  the  indi- 
viduals and  species  to  the  most  general  classes  of 
plants,  animals,  etc.  In  chemistry  and  physics  the 
laws  and  general  principles  are  based  on  substances, 
experiments,  and  processes  observable  by  the  senses. 
Grammar  and  language,  when  studied  as  a  science, 
advance  from  concept  to  concept  through  etymology 
and  syntax./  In  geography  and  history  the  concepts 
are  less  definite  and  more  difficult  to  formulate,  and 
yet  there  are  many  typical  ideas  which  are  to  be 
developed  and  illustrated  in  each  of  these  studies :  in 
history,  for  example,  colony,  legislature,  governor, 
general,  revolution,  institutions  and  customs,  political 
party,  laws  of  development,  causal  relations,  inven- 
tions, etc. ;  in  geography,  continents,  oceans,  forms 
of  reUef,  kinds  of  climate  and  causes,  occupations, 
products,  commerce,  etc.  The  fundamental  truths 
and  relations  and  rules  of  arithmetic  must  be  devel- 
oped from  objects  and  illustrations.  Reading,  spell- 
ing, and  writing  are  arts,  not  sciences,  and  are  more 
concerned  with  skill  in  execution  than  with  the  acqui- 
sition of  a  body  of  scientific  truths.  And  yet  certain 
general  truths  are  emphasized  and  applied  in  these 
studies. 

Much  needless  confusion  has  been  caused  by  rais- 


INDUCTION  231 

ing  the  question  where  to  begin  in  learning.  Do  we 
proceed  from  the  whole  to  the  parts,  or  from  the 
parts  to  the  whole  ?  In  making  the  acquaintance  of 
sense-objects  it  seems  clear  that  we  first  perceive 
wholes  (somewhat  vaguely  and  indefinitely).  The 
second  impulse  is  to  analyze  this  whole  into  its  parts, 
then  recombine  them  (synthesis)  into  a  whole,  which 
is  more  definitely  and  fully  grasped.  A  house,  for 
example,  is  generally  first  perceived  as  a  whole ;  and 
later  it  is  examined  more  particularly  as  to  its  mate- 
rials, rooms,  stairways,  conveniences,  furnishings,  etc. 
The  same  is  true  with  a  mountain,  a  butterfly,  a  man. 
Thus  far  we  have  proceeded  from  the  whole  to  the 
parts  and  then  back  again,  —  analysis  and  synthesis. 
The  next  movement  is  from  this  whole  or  object 
toward  a  group  of  similar  objects,  a  class  notion. 
By  comparing  one  thing  with  others  similar,  a  class 
notion  is  formed  which  includes  them  all.  Each 
individual  is  a  whole,  but  is  also  a  type  of  the  entire 
group.  The  general  mental  movement  is  succes- 
sively in  two  directions  from  any  particular  object ; 
first,  from  the  whole  to  the  parts,  then  grasping  this 
whole  in  a  richer,  fuller  sense,  the  mind  seeks  for 
relations  which  bind  this  object  with  others  similar 
into  a  group,  a  more  complex  product,  a  concept. 
There  may  appear  to  be  an  exception  to  this  rule  in 
the  case  of  a  city,  a  continent,  a  railroad,  or  any  con- 
crete object  so  large  and  complex  that  it  cannot  be 
grasped  by  a  single  effort  of  sense  perception.     But 


232  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

even  here  it  is  usual  with  us  first  to  represent  the 
whole  object  to  our  thought  by  means  of  a  sketch, 
map,  or  figure  of  speech,  so  as  first  to  get  a  quick 
survey  of  the  whole  thing.  In  history,  also,  we  first 
grasp  at  wholes,  then  enter  into  a  detailed  account 
of  an  event,  a  campaign,  a  voyage,  a  revolution,  etc. 
There  are  many  complex  wholes  in  geography  and 
history  with  which  it  is  not  wise  to  begin,  because  it 
requires  a  long  and  painful  effort  to  get  at  the  notion 
of  the  whole.  The  wholes  we  have  in  mind  are  those 
which  can  be  almost  instantly  grasped.  Not,  for 
example,  an  outline  of  American  history  or  of  the 
world's  history.  The  choice  of  suitable  wholes  with 
which  to  begin  is  based  upon  the  child's  interest  and 
apperceptive  powers.  Having  thus  examined  into 
the  general  nature  of  the  inductive  process  and  the 
extent  of  its  application  to  school  studies  and  to  other 
forms  of  acquiring  knowledge,  we  are  led  to  a  closer 
practical  discussion  of  each  of  the  two  chief  stages 
of  induction :  ^st,  observation  or  intuition ;  that  is, 
the  direct  perception,  through  the  senses  or  through 
consciousness,  of  the  realities  of  the  external  world 
and  of  the  mind ;  second,  association  of  ideas  with 
a  view  to  generalizing  and  forming  concepts. 

Intuition  1  implies  object  lessons  in  a  wide  sense. 

1  Intuition  is  popularly  used  in  a  sense  different  from  the  above. 
We  are  in  need  of  a  word  which  has  the  same  meaning  as  the  German 
word  Anschatiung,  for  which  there  is  no  popular  equivalent  in  English. 
Intuition,  as  defined  by  Webster,  is  nearly  the  same :  "  direct  appre- 


INDUCTION  233 

By  object  lessons  we  usually  mean  the  study  of 
things  in  nature  perceived  through  the  senses.  But 
it  is  necessary  to  extend  the  idea  of  object  lessons 
beyond  the  objects  and  phenomena  of  the  physical 
world,  to  which  it  has  been  usually  limited.  It  in- 
cludes perception  of  our  own  mental  states.  These 
direct  experiences  of  our  own  inner  states  are  the 
primary  basis  of  our  understanding  of  other  people's 
feelings,  mental  states,  and  actions.  In  short,  an 
understanding  of  the  phenomena  of  individual  life 
(the  acts  of  persons),  of  society,  and  of  history  is 
based  upon  a  knowledge  of  our  own  feelings  and 
mental  acts,  and  upon  the  accuracy  with  which  we 
have  observed  and  interpreted  similar  things  in  other 
persons./We  have  already  seen  that  a  right  appre- 
ciation of  companions,  biographies,  social  life,  and 
history  is  the  strongest  of  psychological  forces  in  its 
formative  influence  upon  character.  For  this  reason, 
also,  history  includes  the  first  and  most  important 
body  of  school  studies./  But  object  lessons  drawn 
from  physical  nature  do  not  measurably  qualify  us 
for  a  better  appreciation  of  individual  and  social  life 
and  action.  /  The  fundamental  illustrative  materials 
for  history  are  drawn  from  another  source,  from 
the  depth  of  the  heart  and  inner  experience  of  each 

hension,  or  cognition;  immediate  knowledge,  as  in  perception  or 
consciousness." 

For  a  discussion  of  this  term,  see  Quick's  "  Educational  Reformers," 
p.  361,  Appleton's  edition. 


234         THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

person.  Many  words  in  our  school  books  can  be 
illustrated  and  explained  by  objects  and  activities 
in  physical  nature,  but  a  large  part  of  the  words 
in  common  use  in  our  readers  and  school  books  can 
be  explained  by  no  external  objects.  They  depend 
for  their  interpretation  upon  the  child's  own  feehngs, 
desires,  joys,  griefs,  etc.,  and  upon  similar  phenomena 
observed  in  others. 

Object  lessons  in  this  liberal  sense  point  to  the 
direct  exercise  of  the  senses  and  intuitions  in  the 
acquisition  of  experience  of  all  sorts.  They  include 
the  objects,  persons,  and  events  that  we  see  around 
us,  and  our  own  experiences  in  ordinary  life  —  the 
grass,  plants,  trees,  and  soils ;  the  animals,  wild  and 
tame,  with  their  structure,  habits,  and  uses ;  the 
rocks,  woods,  hills,  streams,  seasons,  clouds,  heat, 
and  cold.  There  is  also  the  observation  of  devices 
and  inventions :  tools,  machinery,  and  their  work- 
ings ;  the  different  raw  and  manufactured  products, 
with  their  ways  of  growth  and  transformation.  Be- 
sides these  are  the  various  kinds  and  dispositions 
of  men,  different  classes  and  races  of  people,  with 
great  variety  of  character,  occupation,  and  educa- 
tion. Their  actions,  modes  of  dress,  and  customs 
are  included.  But  we  have  many  other  primary 
and  indispensable  lessons  to  learn  from  the  play- 
ground, the  street,  from  home  and  church,  from 
city  and  country,  from  travel  and  sight-seeing, 
from  holidays  and  work   days,   from   sickness,  and 


INDUCTION  235 

healthful  excursions.  Even  a  child's  own  tempers, 
faults,  and  successes  are  of  the  greatest  value  to 
himself  and  to  the  teacher  in  a  proper  self-under- 
standing and  mastery.  By  object  lessons,  there- 
fore, we  mean  all  that  a  child  becomes  conscious 
of  through  the  direct  action  of  his  senses  and  of 
his  mind  upon  external  nature  or  inner  experience. 
It  is  desired  that  a  child's  knowledge  in  all  direct 
experience  be  simple,  clear,  and  according  to  the 
facts.  All  words  that  he  uses  become  only  signs 
of  the  realities  of  his  experience.  Every  word 
stands  for  a  potent  thought  in  his  own  life  history. 
Of  course,  object  lessons  in  this  rich  and  real  sense 
cannot  be  confined  to  such  few  objects  — birds,  leaves, 
models,  and  straws  —  as  can  be  brought  into  a  school- 
room. All  the  world,  especially  the  outside  world, 
becomes 

"  A  complex  Chinese  toy 
Fashioned  for  a  barefoot  boy." 

Many  of  the  most  interesting  objects  and  phe- 
nomena in  nature  and  of  man's  construction  cannot 
be  observed  in  the  schoolroom  at  all;  for  instance, 
the  river,  the  bridge,  the  forest,  the  flight  of  birds, 
the  sunrise,  the  storm,  the  stars,  etc.  Still  they  must 
know  these  very  things,  and  how  to  use  them  better 
in  constructing  the  mind's  treasures  than  they  are 
wont  to  do.  In  reading,  grammar,  geography,  arith- 
metic, and  nature  study,  we  desire  to  ground  school 


236         THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

discussions  daily  upon  the  clear  facts  of  experience, 
of  personal  observation.  We  need  to  clear  up  all 
confused  and  faulty  perceptions,  and  to  stimulate 
children  to  make  their  future  observations  more 
reliable. 

We  have  already  seen  the  importance  of  object 
lessons  in  this  full  and  real  sense  to  interest.  Inter- 
est in  every  study  is  awakened  and  constantly  reen- 
forced  by  an  appeal,  not  to  books,  but  to  life.  Much 
of  the  dull  work  in  arithmetic,  geography,  and  other 
studies  is  due  to  the  neglect  of  these  real,  illustra- 
tive materials. 

Of  the  six  great  sources  of  interest  (Herbart's), 
three,  the  empirical,  the  aesthetic,  and  the  sympathetic, 
deal  entirely  with  concrete  objects  or  with  individuals, 
while  even  the  speculative  and  social  interests  are 
often  based  directly  upon  particular  persons  or 
phenomena.  In  addition  to  this  it  may  be  said  that 
the  interests  of  children  are  overwhelmingly  with 
the  concrete  and  imaginative  phases  of  every  sub- 
ject, and  only  secondarily  with  general  truths  and 
laws.  The  latter  are  of  greater  concern  to  older 
children  and  adults.  Object  lessons  therefore  con- 
tain a  life-giving  element  that  should  enter  into  every 
subject  of  study. 

Nor  should  these  interesting,  illustrative  object 
lessons  be  limited  to  the  lower  grades.  They  con- 
tain the  combustible  material  upon  which  an  abid- 
ing interest  in  any  subject  is  to  be  kindled.     There 


INDUCTION  237 

are  indeed  other  and  perhaps  higher  sources  of  in- 
terest, but  they  are  largely  dependent  upon  these 
original  springs  that  flow  from  the  concrete  begin- 
nings. In  the  second  place,  object  lessons  supply 
a  stock  of  primary  ideas  which  form  the  foundation 
of  all  later  progress  in  knowledge.  This  is  not  a 
question  of  interest  merely,  but  of  understanding,  of 
capacity  to  get  at  the  meaning  of  an  idea.  Concepts 
are  not  the  raw  materials  with  which  the  mind  works, 
but  they  are  elaborated  out  of  the  raw  products  fur- 
nished by  the  senses  and  other  forms  of  intuition. 
As  cloth  is  manufactured  out  of  the  raw  cotton  and 
wool  produced  on  the  farm  or  in  southern  fields,  so 
concepts  are  a  manufactured  article,  into  whose  tex- 
ture materials  previously  gathered  enter.  Concepts 
do  not  grow  up  directly  from  the  soil  of  the  mind 
any  more  than  ready-made  clothing  grows  on  the 
bushes  or  on  the  backs  of  the  wearers.  Concepts 
must  be  made  out  of  stuff  that  is  already  in  the 
mind,  as  woollen  blankets  are  spun  and  woven  out 
of  fleeces.  Our  present  contention  is,  that  the  mind 
shall  be  filled  up  with  the  best  quality  of  raw  stuff, 
otherwise  there  will  be  defect  and  deficiency  in  its 
later  products.  The  stuff  out  of  which  concepts  are 
built  is  drawn  from  the  varied  experiences  of  life. 
On  account  of  this  intimate  relation  between  the 
realities  of  life  and  school  studies,  they  cannot  be 
separated.  Every  branch,  especially  in  elementary 
studies,  must  be  treated  concretely  and  be  built  up 


238  THE   ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

out  of  sense  materials.  Every  study  has  its  concrete 
side,  its  illustrative  materials,  its  colors  of  individual 
things  taken  from  life.  Every  study  has  likewise 
its  more  general  scientific  truths  and  classifications. 
The  prime  mistake  in  nearly  all  teaching  and  in 
the  text-book  method  is  in  supposing  that  the  great 
truths  are  accessible  in  some  other  way  than  through 
the  concrete  materials  that  lie  properly  at  the  en- 
trance. The  text-books  are  full  of  the  abstractions 
and  general  formulae  of  the  sciences ;  but  they  can, 
in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  deal  only  in  a  meagre 
way  with  the  individual  objects  and  facts  upon  which 
knowledge  in  different  subjects  is  based.  This  nec- 
essary defect  in  a  text-book  method  must  be  made 
good  by  excursions,  by  personal  observation,  by  a 
constant  reference  of  lessons  to  daily  experience 
outside  of  school,  by  more  direct  study  of  our  sur- 
roundings, by  the  teacher  perfecting  himself  in  this 
kind  of  knowledge  and  in  its  skilful  use. 

There  was  a  current  belief  at  one  time  that  object 
lessons  should  form  a  special  study  for  a  particular 
period  of  school  life,  namely,  the  first  years.  It  was 
thought  that  sufficient  sense-materials  could  be  col- 
lected in  two  or  three  years  to  supply  the  whole 
school  curriculum.  But  this  thought  is  now  aban- 
doned. Children  in  the  earlier  grades  may  properly 
spend  more  time  in  object  study  than  in  later  grades, 
but  there  is  no  time  in  school  life  when  we  can  afford 
to  cut  loose  from  the  real  world.     There  is  scarcely 


INDUCTION  239 

a  lesson  in  any  subject  that  cannot  be  clarified  and 
strengthened  by  calling  in  the  fresh  experiences  of 
daily  life. 

The  discussion  of  the  concept  and  of  the  inductive 
process  has  shown  that  concepts  cannot  be  found  at 
first  hand.  There  must  be  observation  of  different 
objects,  comparison,  and  grouping  into  a  class.  A 
person  who  has  never  seen  an  elephant,  nor  a  picture 
of  one,  can  form  no  adequate  notion  of  elephants  in 
general.  We  can  by  no  shift  dispense  with  the  illus- 
trations. The  more  the  memory  is  filled  with  vivid 
pictures  of  real  things,  the  more  easy  and  rapid  will 
be  the  progress  to  general  truths.  Not  only  are  gen- 
eral notions  of  classes  of  objects  in  nature  or  of  per- 
sonal actions  built  up  out  of  particulars,  but  the 
general  laws  and  principles  of  nature  and  of  human 
society  must  be  observed  as  illustrated  in  real  life  to  be 
understood.  We  should  have  no  faith  in  electricity  if 
it  were  simply  a  scientific  theory,  if  it  had  not  demon- 
strated its  power  through  material  objects.  The  idea 
of  cohesion  would  never  have  been  dreamed  of,  if  it 
had  not  become  necessary  to  explain  certain  physical 
facts.  The  spherical  form  of  the  earth  was  not  ac- 
cepted by  many  even  learned  men  until  sailors  with 
ships  had  gone  around  it.  Political  ideas  of  popular 
government  which  a  few  centuries  ago  were  regarded 
as  purely  Utopian,  are  now  accepted  as  facts  because 
they  have  become  matters  of  common  observation. 
The  circulation  of  the  blood  remained  a  secret  for 


240    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

many  centuries,  because  of  the  difficulties  of  bringing 
it  home  to  the  knowledge  of  the  senses.  These  ex- 
amples will  show  how  difficult  it  is  to  go  beyond  the 
reach  of  sense  experience.  Even  those  philosophers 
who  have  tried  to  construct  theories  without  the  safe 
foundation  of  facts  have  labored  for  naught.  The 
more  our  thought  is  checked  and  guided  by  Nature's 
realities,  the  less  danger  of  inflation  with  pretended 
knowledge.  Bacon  found  that  in  this  tendency  to 
theorize  loosely  upon  a  slender  basis  of  facts,  was  the 
fundamental  weakness  of  ancient  philosophy.  Na- 
ture, if  observed,  will  reiterate  her  truths  till  they 
become  convincing  verities,  while  the  study  of  words 
and  books  alone  produces  a  quasi  knowledge  which 
often  mistakes  the  symbol  for  the  thing. 

Having  this  thought  in  mind,  Comenius,  more  than 
two  and  a  half  centuries  ago,  said :  — 

**  It  is  certain  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  under- 
standing which  has  not  been  previously  in  the  senses, 
and  consequently  to  exercise  the  senses  carefully  in 
discriminating  the  difference  of  natural  objects  is  to 
lay  the  foundation  of  all  wisdom,  all  eloquence,  and 
of  all  good  and  prudent  action.  The  right  instruc- 
tion of  youth  does  not  consist  in  cramming  them  with 
a  mass  of  words,  phrases,  sentences,  and  opinions 
collected  from  authors.  In  this  way  the  youth  are 
taught,  like  ^Esop's  crow  in  the  fable,  to  adorn  them- 
selves with  strange  feathers.  Why  should  we  not, 
instead  of  dead  books,  open  the  living  book  of  Nature  ? 


/ 

INDUCTION  V  24./ 

Not  the  shadow  of  things,  but  the  things  themselves, 
which  make  an  impression  upon  the  senses  and  im- 
agination, are  to  be  brought  before  the  youth." 
James,  in  his  "  Talks  to  Teachers,"  p.  146,  says  :  — 
"  During  the  first  seven  or  eight  years  of  childhood 
the  mind  is  most  interested  in  the  sensible  properties 
of  material  things.  Constructiveness  is  the  instinct 
most  active;  and  by  the  incessant  hammering  and 
sawing,  and  dressing  and  undressing  dolls,  putting  of 
things  together  and  taking  them  apart,  the  child  not 
only  trains  the  muscles  to  coordinate  action,  but 
accumulates  a  store  of  physical  conceptions  which 
are  the  basis  of  his  knowledge  of  the  material  world 
through  life.  Object- teaching  and  manual  training 
wisely  extend  the  sphere  of  this  order  of  acquisition. 
Clay,  wood,  metals,  and  the  various  kinds  of  tools  are 
made  to  contribute  to  the  store.  A  youth  brought 
up  with  a  sufficiently  broad  basis  of  this  kind  is 
always  at  home  in  the  world.  He  stands  within  the 
pale.  He  is  acquainted  with  Nature,  and  Nature,  in 
a  certain  sense,  is  acquainted  with  him.  Whereas  the 
youth  brought  up  alone  at  home,  with  no  acquaint- 
ance with  anything  but  the  printed  page,  is  always 
afflicted  with  a  certain  remoteness  from  the  material 
facts  of  life,  and  a  correlative  insecurity  of  conscious- 
ness, which  make  of  him  a  kind  of  alien  on  the  earth 
in  which  he  ought  to  feel  himself  perfectly  at  home. 
"  To  have  grown  up  on  a  farm,  to  have  haunted  a 
carpenter's  and  blacksmith's  shop,  to  have  handled 


242    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

horses  and  cows  and  boats  and  guns,  and  to  have 
ideas  and  abilities  connected  with  such  objects,  are  an 
inestimable  part  of  youthful  acquisition.  After  ado- 
lescence it  is  rare  to  be  able  to  get  into  familiar  touch 
with  any  of  these  primitive  things.  The  instinctive 
propensions  have  faded,  and  the  habits  are  hard  to 
acquire. 

"  Accordingly,  one  of  the  best  fruits  of  the  *  child- 
study  '  movement  has  been  to  reinstate  all  these 
activities  to  their  proper  place  in  a  sound  system  of 
education.  Feed  the  growing  human  being,  feed 
him  with  the  sort  of  experience  for  which  from  year 
to  year  he  shows  a  natural  craving,  and  he  will 
develop  in  adult  life  a  sounder  sort  of  mental  tissue, 
even  though  he  may  seem  to  be  'wasting'  a  great 
deal  of  his  growing  time,  in  the  eyes  of  those  for 
whom  the  only  channels  of  learning  are  books  and 
verbally  communicated  information." 

This  passage  suggests  that  in  the  effort  to  get  a 
sound  concrete  basis  for  ideas  in  experience  we  have 
gone  a  step  beyond  the  old  idea  of  observation  and 
sense  training.  A  solid  and  practical  education  de- 
mands more  than  the  mere  observation  of  objects  as 
a  basis  for  ideas.  The  manual  training  and  construc- 
tive exercises  which  are  being  gradually  introduced 
into  many  schools  are  beHeved  to  be  a  better  means 
of  putting  a  child  in  possession  of  his  powers,  both 
physical  and  mental,  than  any  kind  of  mere  study, 
whether  of  books  or  of  objects.     A  child  will  come 


INDUCTION  243 

closer  to  realities,  will  have  a  keener  appreciation  of 
the  qualities  of  objects,  by  handling,  building,  and 
constructing,  than  by  mere  observation. 

Still  more  significant,  perhaps,  is  the  statement  of 
psychologists  that  all  ideas  have  a  tendency  to  pro- 
duce motor  action,  and  that  the  development  of  the 
brain  tracts  themselves,  physiologically  speaking, 
depends  largely  upon  the  freedom  and  variety  of  out- 
going physical  activity.  From  this  point  of  view  the  ' 
very  basis  of  a  healthy  brain  development,  together 
with  the  complete  command  of  bodily  powers  by  the  i 
mind,  is  found  in  an  abundance  of  physical  activity.  : 
This  is  a  matter  of  rapidly  growing  importance, 
because  many  of  our  town  and  city  boys  have  no 
adequate  opportunity  for  the  development  in  various 
directions  of  their  physical  powers.  It  is  incumbent 
upon  the  school  in  some  way  or  other  to  supply  this 
fundamental  physical  basis  of  correct  thinking  and 
give  the  boys  and  girls  a  better  command  of  them- 
selves and  of  the  world  around  them  by  the  various 
forms  of  manual  training  and  industrial,  constructive 
work. 

There  has  always  been  a  strong  tendency  in  the 
schools  to  teach  words,  definitions,  and  rules  without 
a  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  objects  and  experiences 
of  life  that  put  meaning  into  these  abstractions.  The 
result  is,  that  all  the  prominent  educational  reformers 
have  pointedly  condemned  the  practice  of  learning 
words,  names,  etc.,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  things 


244    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

signified.  The  difference  is  like  that  between  learn- 
ing the  names  of  a  list  of  persons  at  a  reception,  and 
being  present  to  enter  into  acquaintance  and  conver- 
sation with  the  guests.  The  oft-quoted  dictum  of 
Kant  is  a  laconic  summary  of  this  argument,  "  Gen- 
eral notions  (concepts)  without  sense-percepts  are 
empty."  The  general  definition  of  composite  flowers 
means  little  or  nothing  to  a  child  ;  but  after  a  familiar 
acquaintance  with  the  sunflower,  dandelion,  thistle, 
etc.,  such  a  general  statement  has  a  clear  meaning. 
Concepts  without  the  content  derived  from  objects 
are  like  a  frame  without  a  picture,  or  a  cistern  with- 
out water.  The  table  is  spread  and  the  dishes 
placed,  but  no  refreshments  are  supplied. 

Having  completed  the  discussion  of  intuition,  in- 
cluding object  lessons,  that  is,  the  preparatory  step  to 
the  inductive  process,  we  reach  the  second,  reflection 
and  survey.  We  are  seeking  for  a  general  term  that 
covers  the  several  steps  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
inductive  process.  It  includes  comparison,  classifica- 
tion, and  abstraction.  It  may  be  discussed  from  the 
standpoint  of  **  association  of  ideas,"  and  contributes 
directly  to  concentration. 

We  have  in  mind,  chiefly,  that  thoughtful  habit 
which  is  not  satisfied  with  simply  acquiring  a  new  fact 
or  set  of  ideas,  but  is  impelled  to  trace  them  out  along 
their  various  connections.  We  have  to  do  now  not  with 
the  acquisition  but  with  the  elaboration  and  assimilation 
of  knowledge.     The  acquisition  of  knowledge  in  the 


INDUCTION  245 

ordinary  sense  is  one  thing ;  its  elaboration  in  a  full 
sense  sets  up  a  standard  of  progress  which  will  put  life 
into  all  school  work  and  reach  far  beyond  it,  and  in  fact 
is  limited  only  by  the  individual  capacity  for  thought. 
In  school,  in  reading  and  study,  we  have  been  largely 
engaged  in  acquiring  knowledge  on  the  principle  that 
**  knowledge  is  power."  But  no  practical  man  needs 
to  be  told  that  much  so-called  school  knowledge  is 
not  power.  Facts  which  have  been  simply  stored  in 
the  memory  are  often  of  little  ready  use.  It  is  like 
wheat  in  the  bin,  which  must  first  pass  through  the 
mill  and  change  its  entire  form  before  it  will  perform 
its  function.  Facts,  in  order  to  become  the  personal 
property  of  the  owner,  must  be  worked  over,  sifted, 
sorted,  classified,  and  connected.  The  process  of 
elaborating  and  assimilating  knowledge  is  so  impor- 
tant that  it  requires  more  time  and  pains  than  the 
first  labor  of  acquisition.  Philosophers  will  admit 
this  at  once,  but  it  is  hard  for  us  to  break  loose  from 
the  traditions  of  the  schoolmasters.  The  mind  is  not 
in  all  respects  like  a  lumber-yard.  It  is,  to  be  sure, 
a  place  for  storing  up  knowledge,  just  as  the  yard  is 
a  deposit  for  lumber.  But  there  the  analogy  ceases, 
and  the  mind  begins  to  resemble  more  the  contractor 
and  builder.  There  is  planing,  sawing,  and  hammer- 
ing ;  the  materials  collected  are  prepared,  fitted,  and 
mortised  together,  and  a  building  fit  for  use  begins  to 
rise.  Knowledge  also  is  for  use,  and  not  primarily 
for  storage.     That  simple  acquisition  and  quantity  of 


246    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

knowledge  are  not  enough,  is  illustrated  by  the  anal- 
ogy of  an  army.  Numbers  do  not  make  an  army, 
but  a  rabble.  A  general  first  enlists  raw  recruits, 
drills  and  trains  them  through  a  long  period,  and 
finally  combines  them  into  an  effective  army.  Many 
of  our  ideas  when  first  received  are  like  disorderly, 
raw  recruits.  They  need  to  be  disciplined  into 
proper  action  and  to  ready  obedience. 

In  connection  with  assimilation,  the  analogy  be- 
tween the  stomach  and  the  mind  is  of  still  greater 
interest.  The  food  received  into  the  stomach  is 
taken  up  by  the  organs  of  digestion,  assimilated,  and 
converted  into  blood.  The  process,  however,  takes 
its  course  without  conscious  effort  or  cooperation. 
Knowledge  likewise  enters  the  mind,  but  how  far 
will  assimilation  go  on  without  conscious  effort }  If 
kept  in  a  healthy  state,  the  organs  of  digestion  are 
self-active.  Not  so  the  mind.  Ideas  entering  the 
mind  are  not  so  easily  assimilated  as  the  food  mate- 
rials that  enter  the  stomach.  A  cow  chews  her  cud 
once,  but  the  ideas  that  enter  our  minds  may  be 
drawn  from  their  receptacle  in  the  memory  and 
worked  over  again  and  again.  Ideas  have  to  be  put 
side  by  side,  separated,  grouped,  and  arranged  into 
connected  series.  There  is,  no  doubt,  some  tendency 
in  the  mind  toward  involuntary  assimilation,  but  it 
greatly  needs  culture  and  training.  Many  people 
never  reach  the  thinking  stage,  never  learn  to  survey 
and  reflect.     The  tendency  of  the  mind  to  work  over 


INDUCTION  247 

and  digest  knowledge  should  receive  ample  culture  in 
the  schools.  There  is  a  mental  inertia  produced  by 
pure  memory  exercise  that  is  unfavorable  to  reflec- 
tion. It  requires  an  extra  exertion  to  arrange  and 
organize  facts,  even  after  they  are  acquired.  But 
when  the  habit  of  reflection  has  been  inaugurated,  it 
adds  much  interest  and  value  to  all  mental  acquisi- 
tions. 

There  are  also  well-estabHshed  principles  which 
guide  the  mind  in  elaborating  its  facts.  The  laws  of 
the  association  of  ideas  indicate  clearly  the  natural 
trend  of  mental  elaboration.  The  association  of 
things  because  of  contiguity  in  time  and  place  is  the 
simplest  mode.  The  classification  of  objects  or  ac- 
tivities on  the  basis  of  resemblance  is  the  second 
form,  and  that  upon  which  the  inductive  process  is 
principally  founded.  In  the  third  case,  objects  and 
series  are  easily  retained  in  memory  when  the  rela- 
tion of  cause  and  eflFect  is  perceived  between  them. 
These  natural  highways  of  association,  especially  the 
second  and  third,  should  be  frequently  travelled  in 
linking  the  facts  of  school  study  with  each  other. 
Indeed,  the  outcome  of  a  rational  survey  of  an  object 
or  fact  in  its  different  relations  is  an  association  of 
ideas,  which  is  one  of  the  best  results  of  study.  Such 
connections  of  resemblance  and  difference,  or  of  cause 
and  effect,  are  abundant  and  interesting  in  the  natu- 
ral sciences  and  physical  geography,  also  in  history 
and  languages. 


248    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

The  Herbartians  draw  an  important  distinction 
between  psychical  and  logical  concepts  or  general 
notions.  The  psychical  concept  is  worked  out  natu- 
rally by  a  child  or  an  adult  as  a  result  of  the  chance 
experiences  of  life.  It  is  usually  a  work  of  accident, 
is  incomplete,  faulty,  and  often  misleading.  The 
logical  concept,  on  the  other  hand,  is  scientifically 
correct  and  complete.  It  includes  all  the  common 
characteristics  of  the  group  and  excludes  all  that  is 
not  essential.  It  is  a  product  of  accurate  and  mature 
thinking.  We  all  possess  an  abundance  of  psychical 
concepts  drawn  from  the  miscellaneous  experiences 
of  life.  It  is  a  large  share  of  the  school  work,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  develop  logical  concepts  out  of  these 
immature  and  faulty  psychical  concepts.  A  child  is 
disposed  to  call  tadpoles  fishes ;  and  later,  porpoises 
and  whales  are  faultily  classed  with  the  fishes  in  the 
same  way.  Nearly  all  our  psychical  concepts  are 
subject  to  such  loose  and  faulty  judgments.  .Even 
where  one  is  accurate  in  his  observations,  the  conclu- 
sions naturally  drawn  are  often  wrong.  For  exam- 
ple, a  child  that  has  seen  none  but  red  squirrels 
would  naturally  think  all  squirrels  red,  and  include 
the  quality  red  in  his  general  notion.  Most  of  our 
empirically  derived  notions  are  spotted  with  such  de- 
fects. What  relation  have  these  facts  to  induction  ? 
We  claim  that  general  notions  should  be  experimen- 
tally formed,  that  is,  by  a  gradual  collection  of  con- 
crete or  illustrative   materials,  and  that  the  logical 


INDUCTION  249 

concepts  are  the  final  outcome  of  comparison  and 
reasoning  toward  conclusions.  In  other  words,  we 
must  begin  with  the  psychical  concepts  with  all  their 
faults ;  we  must  make  mistakes  and  correct  them  as 
our  experience  enlarges,  and  gradually  work  out  of 
psychical  into  logical  methods  and  results.  Our 
text-books  usually  give  us  the  logical  concept  first, 
the  rule,  definition,  principle,  in  its  most  complete 
and  accurate  statement.  This  does  violence  to  the 
child's  natural  mental  movement. 

The  final  stage  of  induction  is  the  formulation  of 
the  general  truths,  the  concepts,  principles,  and  laws 
which  constitute  the  science  of  any  branch  of  knowl- 
edge. These  truths  should  be  well  formulated  in 
clear  and  expressive  language  and  mastered  in  this 
form.  Moreover,  the  results  reached,  when  reduced 
to  the  strict  scientific  form,  are  the  same  in  the  in- 
ductive methods  as  in  the  deductive  or  common 
text-book  method.  Not  that  the  effect  on  the  mind 
of  the  learner  is  the  same,  but  the  body  of  truth 
is  unaltered.  The  general  truths  of  every  subject 
can  be  easily  found  well  arranged  in  text-books. 
But  we  are  more  anxious  to  know  how  the  youth 
may  best  approach  and  appreciate  these  truths,  than 
simply  to  see  them  stored  in  the  mind  in  well- 
arranged  form. 

A  rich  man,  in  leaving  a  fortune  to  his  son,  would 
more  than  double  the  value  of  the  inheritance  if  he 
could  teach  him  properly  to  appreciate  wealth  and 


250  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

form  in  him  the  disposition  and  ability  to  use  it 
wisely.  In  the  same  way  the  best  part  of  knowl- 
edge is  not  simply  its  possession,  but  an  apprecia- 
tion of  its  value.  The  method  of  reaching  scientific 
knowledge  through  the  inductive  process,  that  is,  by 
the  collection  and  comparison  of  data  with  a  view 
to  positive  insight,  will  give  a  greater  meaning  to 
the  results.  Interest  is  awakened  and  self-activity 
exercised  at  every  step  in  the  progress  toward  gen- 
eral truths.  By  the  reflective  habit  these  truths  will 
be  seen  in  their  origin  and  causal  connection,  and 
the  line  of  similarity,  contrast,  causal  relation,  anal- 
ogy, and  coincidence  will  be  thoughtfully  traced. 

Possibly  the  progress  toward  formulated  knowl- 
edge will  be  less  rapid  by  induction,  but  it  will  be 
real  progress  with  no  backward  steps.  It  may  well 
be  doubted  whether,  with  average  minds,  real  scien- 
tific knowledge  is  attainable  except  by  a  strong 
admixture  of  inductive  processes.  Perfection  in  the 
form  and  structure  of  our  concepts  is  not  to  be 
attained  by  children  nor  by  adults,  but  the  ideal  of 
scientific  accuracy  in  general  notions  is  to  be  kept 
constantly  in  view  and  approximated  to  the  extent 
of  our  ability. 

De  Garmo,  in  his  "  Essentials  of  Method,"  p.  75. 
says : — 

*'  This,  then,  is  the  great  merit  of  Pestalozzi,  that 
whereas  the  men  of  his  time  began  instruction  with 
the   abstract,    with    words    whose    content   was   un- 


INDUCTION  251 

known  to  the  children,  he  began  with  the  individual 
things,  from  which  alone  the  abstractions  could  gain 
any  significance  in  the  minds  of  the  pupils.  Instead 
of  presupposing  an  experience,  he  supplied  one. 
Instruction  is  ever  swinging  between  two  extremes, 
underived  generals,  and  ungeneralized  particulars. 
Undue  conservatism  tends  to  the  former,  and  un- 
thinking radicalism  to  the  latter.  Pestalozzi  struck 
the  golden  mean,  when  he  said  the  mind  must 
ever  rise  from  clear  individual  to  distinct  general 
notions." 

Spencer,  in  his  chapter  on  "  Intellectual  Educa- 
tion," says : — 

"To  say  that  our  lessons  ought  to  start  from  the 
concrete  and  end  in  the  abstract,  may  be  considered 
as  in  part  a  repetition  of  the  foregoing  (from  the 
simple  to  the  complex).  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  maxim 
that  needs  to  be  stated ;  if  with  no  other  view,  then 
with  the  view  of  showing  in  certain  cases  what  are 
truly  the  simple  and  the  complex.  For,  unfortu- 
nately, there  has  been  much  misunderstanding  on 
this  point.  General  formulas  which  men  have  de- 
vised to  express  groups  of  details,  and  which  have 
severally  simplified  their  conceptions  by  uniting 
many  facts  into  one  fact,  they  have  supposed  must 
simplify  the  conceptions  of  the  child  also ;  quite 
forgetting  that  a  generalization  is  simple  only  in 
comparison  with  the  whole  mass  of  particular  truths 
it  comprehends  —  that  it  is  more  complex  than  any  one 


252    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

of  these  truths  taken  singly  —  that  only  after  many 
of  these  single  truths  have  been  acquired  does  the 
generalization  ease  the  memory  and  help  the  reason 
—  and  that  to  the  child  not  possessing  these  single 
truths  it  is  necessarily  a  mystery.  Thus  confound- 
ing two  kinds  of  simplification,  teachers  have  con- 
stantly erred  by  setting  out  with  *  first  principles/ 
a  proceeding  essentially,  though  not  apparently,  at 
variance  with  the  primary  rule;  which  implies  that 
the  mind  should  be  introduced  to  principles  through 
the  medium  of  examples,  and  so  should  be  led 
from  the  particular  to  the  general  —  from  the  con- 
crete to  the  abstract." 

Laurie,  in  his  "Institutes  of  Education,"  says:  — 

"  Train  the  young  in  the  formation  of  general  con- 
cepts, and  in  the  analysis  of  those  they  have  imma- 
turely  formed.  With  this  object  in  view  obey  the 
following  rule :  — 

**  Rule.  —  Teach  generalizations  as  generalizations ; 
that  is  to  say,  proceed  from  the  particular  to  the 
general,  from  the  concrete  individual  to  the  ab- 
stract. 

"  The  tradition-bound  teacher  of  language  will  say 
that  the  abstract  syntactical  rule  of  grammar  can  be 
learned  quite  easily  by  boys.  Of  course  it  can  —  as 
words ;  but  it  can  never  be  anything  but  a  meaning- 
less collocation  of  words  until  it  is  filled  with  the  con- 
crete individual  *  instances'  which  the  boy  is  daily 
encountering  in  his  studies.     And  inasmuch  as  the 


INDUCTION  253 

human  mind,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  gets  its  general  and 
abstract  proposition  (even  if  it  has  to  do  so  retro- 
spectively, i.e.  by  going  back)  through  particulars, 
our  duty  is  to  lead  it  to  its  general  proposition  along 
the  road  or  way  of  particulars.  The  mind  will  thus 
make  easier  and  more  solid  and  more  rapid  progress 
in  the  knowledge  of  a  subject,  and  will  also  have  an 
intellectual  interest  in  the  subject.  But  these  are  not 
the  sole,  nor  yet  the  chief,  advantages ;  for  it  is  only 
by  following  the  way  of  reason  that  we  can  truly 
train  and  discipline  reason  to  the  sound  and  effective 
exercise  of  its  powers  on  all  the  affairs  of  life." 

After  all,  deduction  performs  a  much  more  im- 
portant part  in  the  work  of  building  up  concepts 
than  the  previous  discussion  would  indicate.  As  fast 
as  psychical  concepts  are  formed  we  clamber  upon 
them  and  try  to  get  a  better  view  of  the  field  around 
us.  Like  captured  guns,  we  turn  them  at  once  upon 
the  enemy  and  make  them  perform  service  in  new 
fields  of  conquest.  If  a  new  case  or  object  appears, 
we  judge  of  it  in  the  light  of  our  acquired  concepts, 
no  matter  whether  they  are  complete  and  accurate  or 
not.  This  is  deduction.  We  are  glad  to  gain  any 
vantage  ground  in  judging  the  objects  and  phe- 
nomena constantly  presenting  themselves.  In  fact, 
it  is  inevitable  that  inductive  and  deductive  processes 
will  be  constantly  dovetailed  into  each  other.  The 
faulty  concepts  arrived  at  are  brought  persistently 
into  contact  with  new  individual  cases.     They  are 


254    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

thus  corrected,  enlarged,  and  more  accurately  grasped. 
This  is  the  series  of  mental  stepping-stones  that  leads 
up  gradually  to  logical  concepts.  The  inductive  pro- 
cess is  the  fundamental  one,  and  deduction  comes  in 
at  every  step  to  brace  it  up.  This  is  only  another 
illustration  that  mental  processes  are  intimately  inter- 
woven, and,  except  in  thought,  not  to  be  separated. 
In  the  discussion  of  apperception  in  the  following 
chapter  we  shall  see  that,  in  the  process  of  gaining 
knowledge,  our  acquired  ideas  and  concepts  play  a 
most  important  rdle.  They  are  really  the  chief  assim- 
ilating agencies.  But  in  spite  of  all  this  we  shall 
scarcely  be  led  again  to  the  standpoint  that  logical  or 
scientific  concepts  should  be  the  starting-point  in  the 
study  of  any  subject. 


CHAPTER  VI 

APPERCEPTION 

We  have  now  to  deal  with  a  principle  of  pedagogy 
upon  which  all  the  leading  ideas  thus  far  discussed 
largely  depend  for  their  realization.  Interest,  con- 
centration, and  induction  set  up  requirements  relative 
to  the  matter,  spirit,  and  method  of  school  studies. 
Apperception  is  a  practical  principle,  obedience  to 
which  will  contribute  daily  and  hourly  to  making  real 
in  school  exercises  the  ideas  of  interest,  concentra- 
tion, and  induction. 

We  observe  in  passing  that  the  important  principles 
already  discussed  stand  in  close  mutual  relation  and 
dependence.  Interest  aids  concentration  by  bringing 
all  kinds  of  knowledge  into  close  touch  with  the  feel- 
ings. Interest  puts  incentives  into  every  kind  of 
information  so  as  to  arouse  the  will,  which,  in  turn, 
unifies  and  controls  the  mental  actions.  But  concen- 
tration has  a  reflex  influence  upon  interest,  because 
unity  and  conscious  mastery  give  added  pleasure  to 
knowledge.  Induction  is  a  natural,  psychological 
method  of  acquiring  and  unifying  knowledge  in  an 
interesting  way.  Apperception,  in  turn,  is  a  prin- 
ciple of  mental  action  which  puts  life  and  interest 

255 


256    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

into  inductive  and  concentrating  processes.  Every 
hour  of  school  labor  illustrates  the  value  of  appercep- 
tion, and  teachers  should  find  in  it  a  constant  antidote 
to  faulty  methods. 

Apperception  is  said  to  contain  nothing  new  in 
psychology,  and  is  thought  identical  with  certain 
phases  of  the  association  of  ideas.  It  is  closely  akin 
to  what  we  have  long  known  as  assimilation  of  ideas, 
and  it  involves  especially  the  interaction  of  ideas  upon 
one  another  by  which  new-entering  experiences  are 
clarified  and  incorporated  into  old  masses  of  thought. 
Professor  James  says,  "  Apperception  corresponds  to 
nothing  peculiar  or  elementary  in  psychology,  being 
only  one  of  the  innumerable  results  of  the  psycho- 
logical process  of  the  association  of  ideas,  and  psy- 
chology itself  can  easily  dispense  with  the  word, 
useful  as  it  may  be  in  pedagogics."  Psychologists 
and  older  writers  on  pedagogy  have  been  somewhat 
irritated  by  the  frequent  use  of  this  new  term,  and 
especially  by  the  importance  attached  to  it.  Its 
peculiar  value  hes  in  the  sharper  analysis  of  the 
elements  of  interpretation  in  the  process  of  acquiring 
new  ideas.  This  is  significant  because  it  strikes  at 
the  centre  of  the  teaching  process,  at  the  very  point 
of  contact  in  the  mind's  struggle  with  ideas.  Apper- 
ception also  includes  the  action  of  the  whole  mind 
(knowing,  feeling,  and  will)  at  any  given  moment, 
and  is  not  limited  to  any  fractional  part  like  concep- 
tion or  memory  or  reason,  analyzed   out  from  the 


APPERCEPTION  25/ 

rest.  Apperception  requires,  therefore,  that  the 
teacher  at  every  stage  shall  get  the  child's  point  of^ 
view,  his  whole  mental  attitude  in  approaching  any 
difficulty.  The  child's  whole  ability  and  acquired 
knowledge  can  then  be  focussed  upon  the  problem  in 
hand.  How  to  organize  a  child's  mental  resources 
and  to  keep  them  focussed  most  economically  upon 
the  variety  of  difficulties  that  arise  in  school,  —  this 
is  the  problem  of  apperception. 

Apperception  may  be  roughly  defined  at  first  as^^ 
the  process  of  acquiring  new  ideas  by  the  aid  of  old 
ideas  already  in  the  mind.  It  makes  the  acquisition 
of  new  knowledge  easier  and  quicker.  Not  that 
there  is  any  easy  road  to  learning,  but  there  is  a 
natural  process  which  greatly  accelerates  the  prog- 
ress of  acquisition,  just  as  it  is  better  to  follow  a 
highway  over  a  rough  country  than  to  betake  one's 
self  to  the  stumps  and  brush.  For  example,  if  one 
is  familiar  with  peaches,  apricots  will  be  quickly 
understood  as  a  kindred  kind  of  fruit,  even  though 
a  little  strange.  A  person  who  is  familiar  with  elec- 
trical machinery  will  easily  interpret  the  meaning  and 
purpose  of  every  part  of  a  new  electrical  plant.  One 
may  perceive  a  new  object  without  understanding  it, 
but  to  ap perceive  it  is  to  interpret  its  meaning  by  the 
aid  of  similar  familiar  notions. 

If  one  examines  a  typewriter  for  the  first  time,  it 
will  take  some  pains  and  effort  to  understand  its  con- 
struction and  use ;  but  after  examining  a  Remington, 


258    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

another  kind  will  be  more  easily  understood,  because 
^the  principle  of  the  first  interprets  that  of  the  second. 
Suppose  the  Steppes  of  Russia  are  mentioned  for  the 
first  time  to  a  class.  The  word  has  little  or  no  mean- 
ing, or  perhaps  suggests  erroneously  a  succession  of 
steps  or  benches.  But  we  remark  that  the  steppes 
are  like  the  prairies  and  plains  to  the  west  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  previously  studied,  covered  with 
grass  and  fed  on  by  herds.  By  awakening  a  familiar 
notion  already  in  the  mind  and  bringing  it  distinctly 
to  the  front,  the  new  thing  is  easily  understood. 
Again,  a  boy  goes  to  town  and  sees  a  banana  for  the 
first  time,  and  asks :  "  What  is  that  ?  I  never  saw 
anything  like  that."  He  thinks  he  has  no  class  of 
things  to  which  it  belongs,  no  place  to  put  it.  His 
father  answers  that  it  is  to  eat,  like  an  orange  or  a 
pear,  and  its  significance  is  at  once  plain  by  the  ref- 
erence to  something  familiar. 

Again,  two  men,  the  one  a  machinist  and  the  other 
an  observer  unskilled  in  machines,  visit  the  machinery 
hall  of  an  exposition.  The  machinist  observes  a  new 
invention  and  finds  in  it  a  new  application  of  an  old 
principle.  As  he  passes  along  from  one  machine  to 
another  he  is  much  interested  in  noting  new  devices 
and  novel  appliances,  and  at  the  end  of  an  hour  he 
leaves  the  hall  with  a  mind  enriched.  The  other 
observer  sees  the  same  machines  and  their  parts,  but 
does  not  detect  the  principle  of  their  construction. 
His  previous  knowledge  of  machines  is  not  sufficient 


APPERCEPTION  259 

to  give  him  the  clew  to  their  explanation.  After  an 
hour  of  uninterested  observation  he  leaves  the  hall 
with  a  confused  notion  of  shafts,  wheels,  cogs,  bands, 
etc.,  but  with  no  greater  insight  into  the  principles  of 
machinery.  Why  has  one  man  learned  so  much  and 
the  other  nothing  ?  Because  the  machinist's  previous 
experience  served  as  an  interpreter  and  explained 
these  new  contrivances,  while  the  other  had  no  suffi- 
cient previous  knowledge  and  so  acquired  nothing 
new.     *'  To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given." 

In  the  act  of  apperception  the  old  ideas  dwelling 
in  the  mind  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  dead  treasures 
stored  away  and  only  occasionally  drawn  out  and 
used  by  a  purposed  effort  of  the  memory,  but  they 
are  living  forces  which  have  the  active  power  of 
seizing  and  appropriating  new  ideas.  Lazarus  says 
they  stand  "  like  well-armed  men  in  the  inner  strong- 
hold of  the  mind  ready  to  sally  forth  and  overcome 
or  make  serviceable  whatever  shows  itself  at  the 
portals  of  sense."  It  is,  then,  through  the  active  aid 
of  famiHar  ideas  that  new  things  find  an  introduction 
to  soul  life.  If  old  friends  go  out  to  meet  the  strangers 
and  welcome  them,  there  will  be  an  easy  entrance 
and  a  quick  adoption  into  the  new  home.  At  this 
point  the  older  pedagogy  emphasized  the  association 
of  ideas  as  an  aid  to  the  memory,  but  apperception 
emphasizes  the  more  vital  process  of  interpretation. 

But  frequently  these  old  friends  who  stand  in  the 
background  of  our  thoughts  must  be  awakened  and 


26o         THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

called  to  the  front.  They  must  stand,  as  it  were,  on 
tiptoe,  ready  to  welcome  the  stranger.  For  if  they 
lie  asleep  in  the  penetralia  of  the  home,  the  new- 
comers may  approach  and  pass  by  for  lack  of  a 
welcome.  It  is  often  necessary,  therefore,  for  the 
teacher  to  revive  old  impressions,  to  call  up  previ- 
ously acquired  knowledge,  and  to  put  it  in  readiness 
to  receive  and  welcome  the  new.  The  success  with 
which  this  is  done  is  often  the  difference  between 
good  and  poor  teaching. 

We  might  suppose  that  when  two  persons  look  at 
the  same  object  they  would  get  the  same  impression, 
but  this  is  not  true  at  all.  Where  one  person  faints 
with  fright  or  emotion,  another  sees  nothing  to  be 
disturbed  at.  The  old  darky's  fright  upon  his  first 
view  of  a  steamboat  coming  round  the  bend  in  the 
river  is  an  illustration.  In  former  ages  people  looked 
upon  an  eclipse  with  awe  and  dread ;  now  the  same 
appearance  is  witnessed  with  a  pleased  interest. 
Two  travellers  come  in  sight  of  an  old  homestead. 
To  one  it  is  an  object  of  absorbing  interest  as  the 
home  of  his  childhood ;  to  the  other  it  is  much  like 
any  other  old  farm-house.  What  is  the  cause  of  this 
difference  ?  Not  the  house.  It  is  the  same  in  both 
cases.  It  is  remarkable  how  much  color  is  given  to 
every  idea  that  enters  into  the  mind  by  the  ideas 
already  there.  Some  visitors  at  the  World's  Fair 
could  tell  almost  at  a  glance  to  what  states  many  of 
the  buildings  belonged ;  other  visitors  had  to  study 


APPERCEPTION  26 1 

this  out  on  the  maps  and  notices.  One  who  is 
familiar  with  the  history,  architecture,  products,  the 
social  habits  and  customs,  of  the  different  states  is 
able  to  classify  many  of  the  buildings  with  ease. 
His  previous  knowledge  of  these  states  interprets 
their  buildings.  Mount  Vernon  naturally  belongs  to 
Virginia,  Independence  Hall  to  Pennsylvania,  John 
Hancock's  house  to  Massachusetts.  In  a  still  more 
striking  manner  a  knowledge  of  foreign  countries 
enables  the  observer  to  classify  such  buildings  as 
the  French,  the  German,  the  Swedish,  the  Japanese, 
etc.  Again,  in  viewing  any  exhibit  our  enjoyment 
and  appreciation  depend  almost  entirely  upon  our 
previous  knowledge,  not  upon  our  eyesight  or  our 
physical  endurance.  Many  objects  of  the  greatest 
value  we  pass  by  with  an  indifferent  glance  because 
our  previous  knowledge  is  not  sufficient  to  give  us 
their  meaning. 

If  a  dry-goods  merchant,  a  horse  jockey,  and  an 
architect  pass  down  a  city  street  together,  what  will 
each  observe.?  The  merchant  notices  all  the  dry- 
goods  stores,  their  displays,  and  their  favorable  or 
unfavorable  location.  The  jockey  sees  every  horse 
and  equipage;  he  forms  a  quiet  but  quick  judgment 
upon  every  passing  animal.  The  architect  sees  the 
buildings  and  style  of  construction.  If,  in  the  even- 
ing, each  is  called  upon  to  give  his  observations  for 
the  day,  the  jockey  talks  of  horses  and  describes 
some  of  the  best  specimens  in  detail,  the  merchant 


262  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

speaks  of  store-fronts  and  merchandise,  the  architect 
is  full  of  elevations  of  striking  or  curious  buildings. 
The  architect  and  merchant  remember  nothing,  per- 
haps, about  the  horses ;  the  jockey,  nothing  of  stores 
or  buildings.  Three  people  may  occupy  the  same 
pew  in  a  church ;  the  one  can  tell  you  all  about  the 
music,  the  second  the  good  points  in  the  sermon,  and 
the  third  the  style  and  becomingness  of  the  bonnets 
and  dresses.  Each  one  sees  what  he  has  in  his  own 
mind.  A  teacher  describes  Yosemite  Valley  to  a 
geography  class.  Some  of  the  children  construct 
a  mental  picture  of  a  gorge  with  steep  mountain 
sides,  but  no  two  pictures  are  aUke ;  some  have 
mental  pictures  that  resemble  nothing  in  heaven 
above  or  earth  below ;  some  have  constructed  nothing 
at  all,  only  the  echo  of  a  few  spoken  words.  If  the 
teacher,  at  the  close  of  her  description,  could  have 
the  mental  state  of  each  child  photographed  on  the 
blackboard  of  her  schoolroom,  she  would  be  in  mental 
distress.  In  presenting  such  topics  to  children,  much 
depends  upon  the  previous  content  of  their  minds, 
upon  the  colors  out  of  which  they  paint  the  pic- 
tures. We  are  now  prepared  for  a  more  accurate 
definition  of  apperception.  Lindner's  "  Psychology," 
p.  124,  translated  by  De  Garmo,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing :  — 

"  The  transformation  of  a  newer  (weaker)  concept 
by  means  of  an  older  one  surpassing  the  former  in 
power  and  inner  organization  bears  the  name  of  apper- 


APPERCEPTION  263 

ception,  in  contrast  to  the  unaltered  reception  of  the 
same  perception." 

Lindner  remarks  further  :  — 

**  Apperception  is  the  reaction  of  the  old  against 
the  new  —  in  it  is  revealed  the  preponderance  which 
the  older,  firmer,  and  more  self-contained  concept 
groups  have  in  contrast  to  the  concepts  which  have 
just  entered  consciousness." 

Again,  on  page  1 26,  he  says  :  — 

"  It  is  a  kind  of  process  of  condensation  of  thought 
and  brings  into  the  mental  life  a  certain  stability  and 
firmness,  in  that  it  subordinates  new  to  older  impres- 
sions, puts  everything  in  its  right  place  and  in  its 
right  relation  to  the  whole,  and  in  this  way  works  at 
that  organic  formation  of  our  consciousness  which 
we  Call  culture." 

Lange  gives  the  following  definition  on  page  13  of 
"  Apperception  "  :  — 

"  Apperception  may  be  defined  as  that  interaction 
between  two  similar  ideas  or  thought-complexes  in  the 
course  of  which  the  weaker,  unorganized,  isolated  idea 
or  thought-complex  is  incorporated  into  the  richer, 
better  digested,  and  more  firmly  compacted  one." 

Oftentimes,  therefore,  older  ideas  or  thought  masses, 
being  clear,  strong,  and  well-digested,  receive  a  new 
impression  to  modify  and  appropriate  it.  This  is 
especially  true  where  opinions  have  been  carefully 
formed  after  thought  and  deliberation.  A  well- 
trained  political   economist,   for  example,  when  ap- 


264  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

preaching  a  new  theory  or  presentation  of  it  by  a 
George  or  a  Bellamy,  meets  it  with  all  the  resources 
of  a  well-stored,  thoughtful  mind,  and  admits  it,  if  at 
all,  in  a  modified  form  into  his  system  of  thought. 
Sometimes,  however,  a  new  theory,  which  strikes  the 
mind  with  great  clearness  and  vigor,  is  able  to  make 
a  powerful  assault  upon  previous  opinions,  and  per- 
haps modify  or  overturn  them.  This  is  the  more  apt 
to  be  the  case  if  one's  previous  ideas  have  been  weak 
and  undecided.  In  the  interaction  between  the  old 
and  new,  the  latter  then  becomes  the  apperceiving 
forces.  Upon  the  untrained  or  poorly  equipped 
mind  a  strong  argument  has  a  more  decisive  effect 
than  it  may  justly  deserve.  As  we  noticed  above, 
new  ideas,  especially  those  coming  directly  through 
the  senses,  are  often  more  vivid  and  attractive  than 
similar  old  ones.  For  this  reason  they  usually  occupy 
greater  attention  and  prominence  at  first  than  later, 
when  the  old  ideas  have  begun  to  revive  and  reassert 
themselves.  Old  ideas  usually  have  the  advantage 
over  the  new  in  being  better  organized,  more  closely 
connected  in  series  and  groups ;  and  having  been  often 
repeated,  they  acquire  a  certain  permanent  ascen- 
dency in  the  thoughts.  In  this  interaction  between 
similar  notions,  old  and  new,  the  differences  at  first 
arrest  attention,  then  gradually  sink  into  the  back- 
ground, while  the  stronger  points  of  resemblance 
begin  to  monopolize  the  thought  and  bind  the  notions 
into  a  unity. 


APPERCEPTION  265 

The  use  of  familiar  notions  in  acquiring  an  insight 
into  new  things  is  a  natural  tendency  or  drift  of  the 
mind.  As  soon  as  we  see  something  new  and  desire 
to  understand  it,  at  once  we  involuntarily  begin  to 
ransack  our  old  stock  of  ideas  to  discover  anything 
in  our  previous  experience  which  corresponds  to  this 
or  is  Uke  it.  For  whatever  is  Uke  it  or  has  an  analogy 
to  it,  or  serves  the  same  uses,  will  explain  this  new 
thing,  though  the  two  objects  be  in  other  points  essen- 
tially different.  We  are,  in  short,  constantly  falling 
back  upon  our  old  experiences  and  classifications  for 
the  explanation  of  new  objects  that  appear  to  us. 

So  far  is  this  true  that  the  most  ordinary  things 
can  be  explained  only  in  the  light  of  experience. 
When  John  Smith  wrote  a  note  to  his  companions 
at  Jamestown  and  thus  communicated  his  desires  to 
them,  it  was  unintelligible  to  the  Indians.  They  had 
no  knowledge  of  writing  and  looked  on  the  marks  as 
magical.  When  Columbus's  ships  first  appeared  on 
the  coast  of  the  New  World,  the  natives  looked  upon 
them  as  great  birds.  They  had  never  seen  large  sail- 
ing vessels.  To  vary  the  illustration,  the  art  of  read- 
ing, so  easy  to  a  student,  is  the  accumulated  result  of 
a  long  collection  of  knowledge  and  experience.  Will- 
iam James  says :  "  It  is  the  fate  of  every  impression 
thus  to  fall  into  a  mind  preoccupied  with  memories, 
ideas,  and  interests,  and  by  these  it  is  taken  in. 
Educated  as  we  already  are,  we  never  get  an  experi- 
ence that  remains  for  us  completely  nondescript :  it 


266  THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

always  reminds  of  something  similar  in  quality,  or  of 
some  context  that  might  have  surrounded  it  before, 
and  which  it  now  in  some  way  suggests.  This  mental 
escort  which  the  mind  supplies  is  drawn,  of  course, 
from  the  mind's  ready-made  stock.  We  conceive  the 
impression  in  some  definite  way.  We  dispose  of  it 
according  to  our  acquired  possibilities,  be  they  few  or 
many,  in  the  way  of  'ideas.'  This  way  of  taking  in 
the  object  is  the  process  of  apperception.  The  con- 
ceptions which  meet  and  assimilate  it  are  called  by 
Herbart  the  *  apperceiving  mass.'  The  apperceiving 
impression  is  engulfed  in  this,  and  the  result  is  a  new 
field  of  consciousness,  of  which  one  part  (and  often  a 
very  small  part)  comes  from  the  outer  world,  and 
another  part  (sometimes  by  far  the  largest)  comes 
from  the  previous  contents  of  the  mind." 

There  is  a  quick,  automatic  use  of  the  appercep- 
tion masses  which  is  of  great  importance  in  prac- 
tical affairs,  and  is  much  emphasized  by  writers  on 
apperception.  It  is,  however,  little  more  than  a  form 
of  the  association  of  ideas.  We  often  see  a  person  at 
a  distance  and,  by  some  slight  characteristic  of  motion, 
form,  or  dress,  recognize  him  at  once.  From  this 
slight  trace  we  picture  to  ourselves  the  person  in  full, 
and  say  we  saw  him  in  the  street.  Sitting  in  my 
room  at  evening  I  hear  the  regular  passenger  train 
come  in.  The  noise  alone  suggests  the  engine,  cars, 
conductor,  passengers,  and  all  the  train  complete. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  saw  nothing  at   all  but  have 


APPERCEPTION  267 

before  my  mind  the  whole  picture.  On  Sunday 
morning  I  see  some  one  enter  a  familiar  church  door, 
and,  going  on  my  way,  the  whole  picture  of  church, 
congregation,  pastor,  music,  and  sermon  come  dis- 
tinctly to  my  mind.  Only  a  passing  glance  at  one 
person  entering  suggests  the  whole  scene.  In  look- 
ing at  a  varied  landscape  we  see  many  things  which 
the  sensuous  eye  alone  could  not  detect,  —  distances, 
perspective  and  relative  size,  position  and  nature  of 
objects.  This  apperceptive  power  is  of  vast  impor- 
tance in  practical  life,  as  it  leads  to  quick  judgment 
and  action  when  personal  examination  into  details 
would  be  impossible. 

In  apperception  we  never  pass  from  the  known 
to  things  which  are  entirely  new.  Absolutely  new 
knowledge  is  gained  by  perception  or  intuition. 
When  an  older  person  meets  with  something  totally 
new,  he  either  does  not  notice  it  or  it  staggers  him. 
Apperception  does  not  take  place.  In  many  cases 
we  are  disturbed  or  frightened,  as  children,  by  some 
new  or  sudden  noise  or  object. 

Parkman,  in  his  description  of  the  Indians  of  Fort 
Laramie,  gives  a  good  illustration  of  their  limited 
powers  of  apperception  :  "  They  were  bent  on  inspect- 
ing everything  in  the  room ;  our  equipments  and  our 
dress  alike  underwent  their  scrutiny ;  for  though  the 
contrary  has  been  carelessly  asserted,  few  beings 
have  more  curiosity  than  Indians  in  regard  to  sub- 
jects within  their  ordinary  range  of  thought.     As  to 


268         THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

other  matters,  indeed,  they  seemed  utterly  indiffer- 
ent. They  will  not  trouble  themselves  to  inquire  into 
what  they  cannot  comprehend,  but  are  quite  con- 
tented to  place  their  hands  over  their  mouths  in  token 
of  wonder,  and  exclaim  that  it  is  'great  medicine.* 
With  this  comprehensive  solution  an  Indian  never  is 
at  a  loss.  He  never  launches  forth  into  speculation 
and  conjecture  ;  his  reason  moves  in  its  beaten  track. 
His  soul  is  dormant ;  and  no  exertions  of  the  mission- 
aries, Jesuit  or  Puritan,  of  the  Old  World  or  of  the 
New,  have  as  yet  availed  to  rouse  it."  **  California 
and  Oregon  Trail,"  Chap.  IX. 

This  reminds  us  also  of  the  Esquimaux  who  were 
taken  through  the  streets  of  London.  To  the  sur- 
prise of  many,  they  passed  stoUdly  along  without 
noticing  the  interesting  and  strange  sights.  They 
had  not  the  kind  of  experience  necessary  to  interpret 
what  they  saw. 

But  most  so-called  new  things  bear  sufficient  re- 
semblance to  things  seen  before  to  admit  of  explana- 
tion. Strange  as  the  sights  of  a  Chinese  city  might 
appear,  we  should  still  know  that  we  were  in  a  city. 
In  most  "new"  objects  of  observation  or  study,  the 
familiar  parts  greatly  preponderate  over  the  unfamil- 
iar. In  a  new  reading  lesson,  for  example,  most  of 
the  words  and  ideas  are  well  known  ;  only  an  occa- 
sional word  requires  explanation,  and  that  by  using 
familiar  illustrations.  The  flood  of  our  familiar  and 
oft-repeated     ideas    sweeps  on   like  a  great  river, 


APPERCEPTION  269 

receiving  here  and  there  from  either  side  a  tributary 
stream,  that  is  swallowed  up  in  its  waters  without 
perceptible  increase. 

So  strong  is  the  apperceiving  force  of  familiar 
notions  that  they  drag  far-distant  scenes  in  geography 
and  history  into  the  home  neighborhood  and  locate 
them  there.  The  imagination  works  in  conjunction 
with  the  apperceiving  faculty  and  constructs  real 
pictures.  Children  are  otherwise  incUned  to  sub- 
stitute one  thing  for  another  by  imagination.  With 
boys  and  girls,  geographical  objects  about  home  are 
often  converted  by  fancy  into  representatives  of 
distant  places.  It  is  related  of  Byron  that  while 
reading  in  childhood  the  story  of  the  Trojan  War,  he 
localized  all  the  places  in  the  region  of  his  home. 
An  old  hill  and  castle  looking  toward  the  plain  and 
the  sea  were  his  Troy.  The  stream  flowing  through 
the  plain  was  the  Simois.  The  places  of  famous  con- 
flicts between  the  Trojans  and  Greeks  were  located. 
So  vivid  were  the  pictures  which  these  home  scenes 
gave  to  the  child,  that  years  later,  in  visiting  Asia  Minor 
and  the  site  of  the  real  Troy,  he  was  not  so  deeply 
impressed  as  in  his  childhood.  Rein  relates  that  he 
and  his  companions,  while  reading  the  Indian  stories 
of  Cooper,  located  the  important  scenes  in  the  hills 
and  valleys  about  Eisenach  in  the  Thuringian  Moun- 
tains. Many  other  illustrations  of  the  same  imagina- 
tive tendency  to  substitute  home  objects  for  foreign 
ones  are  given.     But  whether  or  not  this  experience 


2/0  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

is  true  of  us  all,  it  is  certain  that  we  can  form  no  idea 
of  foreign  places  and  events  except  as  we  construct 
the  pictures  out  of  the  fragments  of  things  that  we 
have  known.  What  we  have  seen  of  rivers,  lands, 
and  cities  must  form  the  materials  for  picturing  to 
ourselves  distant  places.  This  power  of  apperception 
to  draw  things  far  distant  in  place  and  time  into  the 
home  surroundings  is  an  extreme  illustration  of  the 
tendency  of  all  incoming  knowledge  to  encamp  close 
around  the  child's  centre  of  being,  his  home  and 
neighborhood  experience.  Just  as  a  child's  speech, 
his  tones  and  accent,  throughout  life,  betray  his  early 
home  life  and  surroundings,  so  all  his  ideas  are 
colored  by  the  thoughts  of  his  childhood.  All  his 
later  interpretations  of  knowledge  rest  upon  this 
foundation. 

The  opposite  of  this  is  not  seldom  met  in  our  teach- 
ing and  reveals  what  a  travesty  is  learning  without 
such  interpretation.  Dr.  Dewey  says,  "  While  I  was 
visiting  in  the  city  of  MoUne  a  few  years  ago,  the 
superintendent  told  me  that  they  found  many  children 
every  year  who  were  surprised  to  learn  that  the 
Mississippi  River  in  the  text-book  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  stream  of  water  flowing  past  their 
homes." 

Since  the  old  ideas  have  so  much  to  do  with  the 
proper  reception  of  the  new,  let  us  examine  more 
closely  the  interaction  of  the  two.  If  a  new  idea 
drops  into  the  mind,  like  a  stone  upon  the  surface 


APPERCEPTION  2/1 

of  the  water,  it  produces  a  commotion.  It  acts  as 
a  stimulus  or  wakener  to  the  old  ideas  sleeping 
beneath  the  surface.  It  draws  them  up  above  the 
surface  level ;  that  is,  into  consciousness.  But  what 
ideas  are  thus  disturbed  ?  There  are  thousands  of 
these  latent  ideas,  embryonic  thoughts,  beneath  the 
surface.  Those  which  possess  sufficient  kinship  to 
this  newcomer  to  hear  his  call,  respond.  For  in  the 
mind  "birds  of  a  feather  flock  together."  Ideas  and 
thoughts  which  resemble  the  new  one  answer ;  the 
others  sleep  on  undisturbed,  except  a  few  who  are  so 
intimately  associated  with  these  kinsmen  as  to  be 
disturbed  when  they  are  disturbed.  Or,  to  state 
it  differently,  certain  thought-groups,  or  complexes, 
which  contain  elements  kindred  to  the  new  notion, 
are  agitated  and  raised  into  conscious  thought.  They 
seem  to  respond  to  their  names.  The  new  idea  may 
continue  for  some  time  to  stimulate  and  agitate. 
There  appears  to  be  a  sort  of  telegraphic  inquiry 
through  the  regions  of  the  mind  to  find  out  where  the 
kindred  dwell.  The  distant  relatives  and  strangers 
(the  unrelated  or  serviceable  ideas)  soon  discover 
that  they  have  responded  to  the  wrong  call  and  drop 
back  to  sleep  again.  But  the  real  kindred  wake  up 
more  and  more.  They  come  forward  to  inspect  the 
newcomer  and  to  examine  his  credentials.  Soon  he 
finds  that  he  is  surrounded  by  inquisitive  friends 
and  relatives.  They  threaten  even  to  take  possession 
of  him. 


2/2    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

Up  to  this  point  the  new  idea  has  taken  the  lead, 
he  has  been  the  aggressor.  But  now  is  the  time  for 
the  awakened  kindred  ideas  to  assume  control  and 
lead  the  stranger  captive,  to  bring  him  in  among 
themselves  and  give  him  his  appropriate  place  and 
importance.  The  old  body  of  ideas,  when  once  set 
in  motion,  is  more  powerful  than  any  single-handed 
stranger  that  happens  to  fall  into  their  company. 
The  outcome  is  that  the  stranger,  who  at  first  seemed 
to  be  producing  such  a  sensation,  now  discovers  that 
strong  arms  are  about  him  and  he  is  carried  captive  by 
vigorous  friends.  New  ideas  when  first  entering  the 
mind  are  very  strong,  and,  if  they  come  through  the 
senses,  are  especially  rich  in  the  color  and  vigor  of 
real  life.  They  therefore  absorb  the  attention  at  first 
and  seem  to  monopolize  the  mental  energies ;  but  the 
older  thought  masses,  when  fully  aroused,  are  better 
organized,  more  firmly  rooted  in  habit,  and  possess 
much  wider  connections.  They  are  almost  certain, 
therefore,  to  apperceive  the  new  idea;  that  is,  to 
conquer  and  subdue  it,  to  make  it  tributary  to  their 
power. 

Let  us  examine  more  closely  the  effect  of  the 
process  of  apperception  upon  the  new  and  old  ideas 
that  are  brought  in  contact.  First,  observe  the  effect 
upon  the  new.  Many  a  new  idea  which  is  not  strong 
enough  in  itself  to  make  a  lasting  impression  upon 
the  mind  would  quickly  fade  out  and  be  forgotten 
were  it  not  that  in  this  process  the  old  ideas  throw  it 


APPERCEPTION  2/3 

into  a  clear  light,  give  it  more  meaning,  associate  it 
closely  with  themselves,  and  thus  save  it.  Two  per- 
sons look  at  the  sword  of  Washington;  one  examines  it 
with  deep  interest,  the  other  scarcely  gives  it  a  second 
glance.  The  one  remembers  it  for  life,  the  other  for- 
gets it  in  an  hour.  The  sense  perception  was  the 
same  in  both  persons  at  first,  but  the  reception  given 
to  the  idea  by  one  converts  it  into  a  lasting  treasure. 
A  little  lampblack,  rolled  up  between  the  finger  and 
thumb,  suggested  to  Edison  his  carbon  points  for  the 
electric  light.  A  piece  of  lampblack  would  produce 
no  such  effect  in  most  people's  minds.  The  difference 
is  in  the  reception  accorded  to  an  idea.  The  meaning 
and  importance  of  an  idea  or  event  depend  upon  the 
interpretation  put  upon  it  by  our  previous  experience. 
Lange's  ''Apperception,"  De  Garmo's  edition,  p.  21, 
says  :  — 

"  Many  a  weak,  obscure,  and  fleeting  perception 
would  pass  almost  unnoticed  into  obscurity,  did  not  the 
additional  activity  of  apperception  hold  it  fast  in  con- 
sciousness. This  sharpens  the  senses,  i.e.  it  gives 
to  the  organs  of  sense  a  greater  degree  of  energy,  so 
that  the  watching  eye  now  sees,  and  the  listening 
ear  hears,  that  which  ordinarily  would  pass  unno- 
ticed. The  events  of  apperception  give  to  the  senses 
a  peculiar  keenness,  which  underlies  the  skill  of  the 
money-changer  in  detecting  a  counterfeit  among  a 
thousand  bank-notes,  notwithstanding  its  deceptive 
similarity;  of  the  jeweller  who  marks  the  slightest, 


274    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

apparently  imperceptible,  flaw  in  an  ornament;  of  the 
physicist  who  perceives  distinctly  the  overtones  of 
a  vibrating  string.  According  to  this  we  see  and 
hear  not  only  with  the  eye  and  ear,  but  quite  as  much 
with  the  help  of  our  present  knowledge,  with  the 
apperceiving  content  of  the  mind." 

Some  even  intelligent  and  sensible  people  can  walk 
through  Westminster  Abbey  and  see  nothing  but  a 
curious  old  church  with  a  few  graves  and  monuments. 
To  a  person  well  versed  in  English  history  and  litera- 
ture it  is  a  shrine  of  poets,  a  temple  of  heroes,  the 
common  resting-place  of  statesmen  and  kings. 

Now,  what  is  the  effect. -.on  the  old  ideas? 
Every  idea  that  newly  enters  the  mind  produces 
changes  in  the  older  groups  and  series  of  thought. 
Any  one  new  idea  may  cause  but  slight  changes,  but 
the  constant  influx  of  new  experiences  works  steadily 
at  a  modification  and  rearrangement  of  our  previous 
stores  of  thought.  Faulty  and  incomplete  groups  and 
concepts  are  corrected  or  enlarged;  that  is,  changed 
from  psychical  into  logical  notions.  Children  are 
surprised  to  find  little  flowers  on  the  oaks,  maples, 
walnuts,  and  other  large  forest  trees.  On  account  of 
the  small  size  of  the  blossoms,  heretofore  unnoticed, 
they  had  not  thought  of  the  great  trees  as  belonging 
to  the  flowering  plants.  Their  notion  of  flowering 
plants  is,  therefore,  greatly  enlarged  by  a  few  new 
observations.  The  bats  flying  about  in  the  twilight 
have  been  regarded  as  birds ;  but  a  closer  inspection 


APPERCEPTION  2/5 

shows  that  they  belong  to  another  class,  and  the 
notion  "bird"  must  be  limited,  and  the  other  class 
enlarged.  As  already  observed  in  the  discussion 
of  induction,  most  of  our  psychical  notions  are  thus 
faulty  and  incomplete,  e.g.  the  ideas  fruit,  fish,  star, 
insect,  mineral,  ship,  church,  clock,  dog,  kitchen, 
library,  lawyer,  city,  etc.  Our  notions  of  these  and 
of  hundreds  of  other  such  classes  are  at  first  both 
incomplete  and  faulty.  The  inflow  of  new  ideas  con- 
stantly modifies  them,  extending,  limiting,  explaining, 
and  correcting  our  previous  concepts. 

Sometimes,  however,  a  single  new  thought  may 
have  wide-reaching  effects ;  it  may  even  revolution- 
ize one's  previous  modes  of  thinking  and  reorganize 
one's  activities  about  a  new  centre.  With  Luther, 
for  instance,  the  idea  of  justification  by  faith  was  a 
new  and  potent  force,  breaking  up  and  rearranging 
his  old  forms  of  thought.  St.  Paul's  vision  on  the 
way  to  Damascus  is  a  still  more  striking  illustration 
of  the  power  of  a  new  idea  or  conviction.  And  yet, 
even  in  such  cases,  the  old  ideas  reassert  themselves 
with  great  persistence  and  power.  Luther  and  Paul 
remained,  even  after  these  great  changes,  in  many 
respects  the  same  kind  of  men  as  before.  Their  old 
habits  of  thinking  were  modified,  not  destroyed  ;  the 
direction  of  their  lives  was  changed,  but  many  of 
their  habits  and  characteristics  remained  almost 
unaltered. 

Apperception,  however,  is  not  limited  to  the  effects 


276  THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

of  external  objects  upon  us,  to  the  influence  of  ideas 
coming  from  without  upon  our  old  stores  of  knowl- 
edge. Old  ideas,  long  since  stored  in  the  mind,  may 
be  freshly  called  up  and  brought  into  such  contact 
with  each  other  that  new  results  follow,  new  apper- 
ceptions take  place.  In  moments  of  reflection  we  are 
often  surprised  by  conclusions  that  had  not  presented 
themselves  to  us  before.  A  new  hght  dawns  upon  us, 
and  we  are  surprised  at  not  having  seen  it  before.  In 
fact,  it  makes  Uttle  difference  whether  the  idea  sug- 
gested to  the  mind  comes  from  within  or  from  with- 
out, if  when  it  once  enters  fairly  into  consciousness 
it  has  power  to  stimulate  other  thoughts,  to  wake  up 
whole  thought  complexes,  and  bring  about  a  process 
of  action  and  reaction  between  itself  and  others.  The 
result  is  new  associations,  new  conclusions,  new  men- 
tal products  —  apperceptions.  This  inner  appercep- 
tion, as  it  has  been  sometimes  called,  takes  place 
constantly  when  we  are  occupied  with  our  own 
thoughts  rather  than  with  external  impressions. 
With  persons  of  deep,  steady,  reflective  habits,  it  is 
the  chief  means  of  organizing  their  mental  stores. 
The  feehngs  and  the  will  have  much,  also,  to  do  with 
this  process. 

The  laws  of  association  draw  the  feelings  as  much 
as  the  intellectual  states  into  apperceptive  acts.  I 
hear  of  a  friend  who  has  had  disasters  in  business 
and  has  lost  his  whole  fortune.  If  I  have  never 
experienced  such  difficulties  myself,  the  chances  are 


APPERCEPTION  277 

that  the  news  will  not  make  a  deep  impression  upon 
me.  But  if  I  have  once  gone  through  the  despond- 
ency of  such  a  crushing  defeat,  sympathy  for  my 
friend  will  be  awakened,  and  I  may  feel  his  trouble 
almost  as  my  own.  The  meaning  of  such  an  item 
of  news  depends  upon  the  response  which  it  finds  in 
my  own  feelings.  It  is  well  known  that  those  friends 
can  best  sympathize  with  us  in  our  trouble  who  have 
passed  through  the  same  troubles.  Even  enemies  are 
not  lacking  in  sympathy  with  each  other  when  an 
appeal  is  made  to  deep  feelings  and  experiences 
common  to  both.  A  good  example  of  this  is  the 
story  told  of  the  two  opposing  armies,  encamped  one 
night  on  opposite  sides  of  the  river  in  Virginia  during 
the  Civil  War.  In  the  darkness  each  shore  resounded 
with  its  own  war  songs,  expressing  its  feelings  of 
loyalty  and  defiance.  At  length  some  one  started 
up  "  Home,  Sweet  Home."  Gradually  it  spread 
through  both  armies,  and  was  sung  with  enthusiasm 
as  they  were  mastered  and  swept  along  by  its  deep 
common  sentiment. 

The  growth  of  the  better  sympathies,  by  system- 
atic extension  and  enlargement,  so  as  to  form  strong 
apperceptive  masses  on  the  basis  of  family  and  social 
life  and  of  religious  devotion,  is  fully  as  important 
as  intellectual  culture,  and  it  is  the  great  means  for 
bringing  children  gradually  into  apperceptive  touch 
with  social,  political,  and  industrial  life  with  its  diffi- 
cult problems. 


278  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

The  feeling  of  interest,  which  we  have  emphasized 
so  much,  is  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  dependent  upon 
apperceptive  conditions.  Select  a  lesson  adapted  to 
the  age  and  understanding  of  a  child,  present  it  in 
such  a  way  as  to  recall  and  make  use  of  his  previous 
experience,  and  interest  is  certain  to  follow.  The 
outcome  of  a  successful  act  of  apperception  is  always 
a  feeling  of  pleasure,  or  at  least  of  interest.  When 
the  principle  of  apperception  is  fully  applied  in  teach- 
ing, the  progress  from  one  point  to  another  is  so 
gradual  and  clear  that  it  gives  pleasure.  A  child  is 
always  delighted  to  find  that  he  can  make  use  of  his 
previous  knowledge.  The  clearness  and  understand- 
ing with  which  we  receive  knowledge  adds  greatly  to 
our  interest  in  it.  On  the  contrary,  when  appercep- 
tion is  violated,  and  new  knowledge  is  only  half 
understood  and  assimilated,  there  can  be  but  little 
feeling  of  satisfaction. 

Lange's  "  Apperception,"  p.  19,  says  :  — 
"  The  overcoming  of  certain  difficulties,  the  acces- 
sion of  numerous  ideas,  the  success  of  the  act  of 
knowledge  or  recognition,  the  greater  clearness  that 
the  ideas  have  gained,  awaken  a  feeling  of  pleasure. 
We  become  conscious  of  the  growth  of  our  knowledge 
and  power  of  understanding.  The  significance  of 
this  new  impression  for  our  ego  is  now  more  strongly 
felt  than  at  the  beginning  or  during  the  course  of  the 
progress.  To  this  pleasurable  feeling  is  easily  added 
the  effort,  at  favorable  opportunity,  to  reproduce  the 


APPERCEPTION  2/9 

product  of  the  apperception,  to  supplement  and  deepen 
it,  to  unite  it  to  other  ideas,  and  so  further  to  extend 
certain  chains  of  thought.  The  summit  or  sum  of 
these  states  of  mind  we  happily  express  with  the 
word  "interest."  For  in  reality  the  feeling  of  self 
appears  between  the  various  stages  of  the  process 
of  apperception  {interesse)\  with  one's  whole  soul 
does  one  contemplate  the  object  of  attention.  If 
we  regard  the  acquired  knowledge  as  the  objective 
result  of  apperception,  interest  must  be  regarded  as 
the  subjective  side." 

Finally,  the  will  has  much  to  do  with  conscious 
efforts  at  apperception.  It  holds  the  thought  to 
certain  groups ;  it  excludes  or  pushes  back  irrele- 
vant ideas  that  crowd  in ;  it  holds  to  a  steady  com- 
parison of  ideas,  even  where  perplexity  and  obscurity 
trouble  the  thinker.  When  the  process  of  reaching 
a  conclusion  takes  much  time,  when  conflict  or  con- 
tradiction have  to  be  removed  or  adjusted,  when  re- 
flection and  reasoning  are  necessary,  the  will  is  of 
great  importance  in  giving  coherency  and  steadiness 
to  the  apperceptive  effort.  A  conscious  effort  at 
apperception,  therefore,  may  include  many  elements, 
sense  perceptions,  ideas  recalled,  feeling,  will. 
Lange's  "Apperception,"  p.  41,  says:  — 
"  Let  us  now  sum  up  the  essentials  in  the  process 
of  apperception.  First  of  all,  an  external  or  internal 
perception,  an  idea,  or  idea-complex  appears  in  con- 
sciousness, finding  more  or  less  response  in  the  mind; 


28o    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

that  is,  giving  rise  to  greater  or  less  stimulation  to 
thought  and  feeling. 

"  In  consequence  of  this,  and  in  accordance  with  the 
psychical  mechanism  or  an  impulse  of  the  will,  one 
or  more  groups  of  thoughts  arise,  which  enter  into 
relation  to  the  perception.  While  the  two  masses 
are  compared  with  one  another,  they  work  upon 
one  another  with  more  or  less  of  a  transforming 
power.  New  thought  combinations  are  formed,  until, 
finally,  the  perception  is  adjusted  to  the  stronger  and 
older  thought  combination.  In  this  way  all  the 
factors  concerned  gain  in  value  as  to  knowledge 
and  feeling ;  especially,  however,  does  the  new  idea 
gain  a  clearness  and  activity  that  it  never  would 
have  gained  for  itself.  Apperception  is,  therefore, 
that  psychical  activity  by  which  individual  percep- 
tions, ideas,  or  idea-complexes  are  brought  into  rela- 
tion to  our  previous  intellectual  and  emotional  life, 
assimilated  with  it,  and  thus  raised  to  greater  clear- 
ness, activity,  and  significance." 

Important  Conclusioyis  drawn  from  a  Study  of 
Apperception 

First.  Value  of  previous  knowledge.  If  knowl- 
edge once  acquired  is  so  valuable,  we  are,  first  of  all, 
urged  to  make  the  acquisition  permanent.  Thorough 
mastery  and  frequent  reviews  are  necessary  to  make 
knowledge  stick.     Careless  and  superficial  study  is 


APPERCEPTION  28 1 

injurious.  It  is  sometimes  carelessly  remarked  by 
those  who  are  supposed  to  bq  wise  in  educational 
doctrine,  that  it  makes  no  difference  how  much  we 
forget,  if  we  only  have  proper  drill  and  training  to 
study.  But  viewed  in  the  light  of  apperception,  V 
acquired  knowledge  should  be  retained  and  used,  } 
for  it  unlocks  the  door  to  more  knowledge.  Thor-  / 
ough  mastery  and  retention  of  the  elements  of 
knowledge  in  the  different  branches  is  the  only 
solid  road  to  progress.  In  this  connection  we  can 
see  the  importance  of  learning  only  what  is  worth 
remembering,  what  will  prove  a  valuable  treasure 
in  future  study.  In  the  selection  of  materials  for 
school  studies,  therefore,  we  must  keep  in  mind 
knowledge  which,  as  Comenius  says,  is  of  solid 
utility.  Knowledge  which  is  thus  useful  is  in  itself 
a  strong  element  of  power,  because  it  is  a  direct 
means  of  interpreting  and  mastering  the  world. 
Much  of  the  knowledge  gained  in  schools  for  mere 
disciplinary  purposes  is  not,  in  the  apperceptive 
sense,  a  source  of  power.  It  may  be,  indeed,  mere 
pedantry  and  pretence,  and  even  self-deception. 
The  doctrine  of  apperception  has  laid  the  axe  to 
the  root  of  that  ancient  tree  known  as  pure  formal 
discipline. 

Second.  The  use  of  our  acquired  stock  of  ideas 
involves  a  constant  working  over  of  old  ideas,  and  this 
working-over  process  not  only  reviews  and  strengthens 
past  knowledge,  keeping  it  from  forgetfulness,  but  it 


282  THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

throws  new  light  upon  it  and  exposes  it  to  a  many- 
sided  criticism.  In  the  first  place,  familiar  ideas 
should  not  be  allowed  to  rest  in  the  mind  unused. 
Like  tools  for  service  they  must  be  kept  bright  and 
sharp.  One  reason  why  so  many  of  the  valuable 
ideas  we  have  acquired  have  gradually  disappeared 
from  the  mind  is  because  they  remained  so  long 
unused  that  they  faded  out  of  sight.  The  old  saying 
that  "  repetition  is  the  mother  of  studies  "  needs  to 
be  recalled  and  emphasized  from  a  new  point  of  view. 
By  being  put  in  contact  with  new  ideas,  old  notions 
are  seen  and  appreciated  in  new  relations.  Facts 
that  have  long  lain  unexplained  in  the  mind,  suddenly 
receive  a  new  interpretation,  a  vivid  and  rational 
meaning ;  or  the  old  meaning  is  intensified  and  vivi- 
fied by  putting  a  new  fact  in  conjunction  with  it. 

When  the  climate  and  products  of  the  British  Isles 
have  been  previously  studied  in  political  geography, 
and  the  Gulf  Stream  is  explained  later  in  its  bearings 
on  the  climate  of  western  Europe,  the  whole  subject 
of  the  climate  of  England  is  viewed  from  a  new  and 
interesting  standpoint.  In  arithmetic,  where  the  sum 
of  the  squares  of  the  two  sides  of  a  right-angled  triangle 
is  illustrated  by  an  example,  and  later  on  in  geometry 
the  same  proposition  is  taken  up  in  a  different  way 
and  proved  as  a  universal  truth,  new  and  interesting 
light  is  thrown  upon  an  old  problem  of  arithmetic. 
In  United  States  history,  after  the  Revolution  has 
been  studied,  the  biography  of  a  man  like  Samuel 


APPERCEPTION        X^G /&  Ll^5^^-^  ^ 

Adams  throws  much  additional  and  vivid  light  upon 
the  events  and  the  actors  in  Boston  and  Massa- 
chusetts. The  life  of  John  Adams  would  give  a  still 
different  view  of  the  same  great  events;  just  as  a  city, 
as  seen  from  different  standpoints,  presents  different 
aspects. 

Third.  In  the  acquisition  of  new  knowledge  apper- 
ception has  its  special  field  of  conquest.  Every  day 
of  his  life,  especially  in  school,  a  child  should  be  run- 
ning up  against  new  forms  of  knowledge,  which  need 
to  be  understood  and  mastered.  The  pupil  should 
learn  how  to  approach  new  knowledge  intelligently 
not  awkwardly,  stupidly,  and  mechanically.  He 
should  not  multiply  because  he  is  told  to,  nor  memo- 
rize because  he  can't  understand.  But  he  should 
learn  to  think,  and  thinking  in  this  case  consists  in 
bringing  to  bear  his  previous  experience  upon  this 
new  thing.  Successful  apperception  has  two  imme- 
diate results.  It  gives  a  quicker  insight  into  the  new 
and  produces  a  feeHng  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction  at 
the  same  time.  Moreover,  this  is  accomplished  by  the 
child's  self-activity  and  not  by  any  dextrous  shifting 
of  the  load  on  to  the  shoulders  of  the  teachers. 

Fourth.  We  have  thus  far  shown  that  new  ideas 
are  more  easily  understood  and  assimilated  when  they 
are  brought  into  close  contact  with  what  we  already 
know ;  and  secondly,  that  our  old  knowledge  is  often 
explained  and  illuminated  by  new  facts  brought  to 
bear  upon  it.     We  may  now  observe  the  result  of  this 


284    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

double  action  —  the  welding  of  old  and  new  into  one 
piece,  the  close  mingling  and  association  of  all  our 
knowledge,  i.e.  its  unity.  Apperception,  therefore, 
has  the  same  final  tendency  that  was  observed  in  the 
inductive  process,  the  unification  of  knowledge,  the 
concentration  of  all  experience  by  uniting  its  parts 
into  groups  and  series.  The  smith,  in  welding  to- 
gether two  pieces  of  iron,  heats  both  and  then  ham- 
mers them  together  into  one  piece.  The  teacher  has 
something  similar  to  do.  He  must  revive  old  ideas 
in  the  child's  mind,  then  present  the  new  facts  and 
bring  the  two  things  together  while  they  are  still 
fresh,  so  as  to  cause  them  to  coalesce.  To  prove  this, 
observe  how  long  division  may  be  best  taught.  Call 
up  and  review  the  method  of  short  division,  then  pro- 
ceed to  work  a  problem  in  long  division,  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  similar  steps  and  processes  in  the  two,  and 
finally  to  the  difference  between  them. 

The  defect  of  much  teaching  in  children's  classes 
is  that  the  teacher  does  not  properly  provide  for  the 
welding  together  of  the  new  and  old.  The  important 
practical  question  after  all  is  whether  instructors  see 
to  it  that  children  recall  their  previous  knowledge. 
It  is  necessary  to  take  special  pains  in  this.  Nothing 
is  more  common  than  to  find  children  forgetting  the 
very  things  which,  if  remembered,  would  explain  the 
difficult  point  in  the  lesson.  Teachers  are  often  sur- 
prised that  children  have  forgotten  things  once 
learned.     But,  in  an  important  sense,  we  encourage 


APPERCEPTION  285 

children  to  forget  by  not  calling  into  use  their  acqui- 
sitions. Lessons  are  learned  too  much  each  by  itself, 
without  reference  to  what  precedes  or  what  follows, 
or  what  effect  this  lesson  of  to-day  may  have  upon 
things  learned  a  year  ago.  Putting  it  briefly,  children 
and  teachers  do  not  think  enough,  pondering  things 
over  in  their  minds,  relating  facts  with  each  other, 
and  bringing  all  knowledge  into  unity  and  into  a 
clear  comprehension.  The  habit  of  thoughtful- 
ness,  engendered  by  a  proper  combining  of  old  and 
new,  is  one  of  the  valuable  results  of  a  good  educa- 
tion. It  gives  the  mind  a  disposition  to  glance  back- 
ward or  forward,  to  judge  of  all  old  ideas  from 
a  broader,  more  intelligent  standpoint.  Thinking 
everything  over  in  the  light  of  the  best  experience 
we  can  bring  to  bear  upon  it,  prevents  us  from  jump- 
ing at  conclusions. 

Fifth.  Again,  if  we  accept  the  doctrine  that  old 
ideas  are  the  materials  out  of  which  we  constantly 
build  bridges  across  into  new  fields  of  knowledge, 
we  must  know  the  children  better,  and  what  store 
of  knowledge  they  have  already  acquired.  Just  as 
an  army  marching  into  a  new  country  must  know 
well  the  country  through  which  it  has  passed,  and 
must  keep  open  the  line  of  communication  and  the 
base  of  supplies,  so  the  student  must  always  have 
a  safe  retreat  into  his  past,  and  a  base  of  supplies 
to  sustain  him  in  his  onward  movements.  The 
tendency  is  very  strong  for  a  grade  teacher  to  think 


286    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

that  she  needs  to  know  nothing  except  the  facts  to 
be  acquired  in  her  own  grade.  But  she  should  re- 
member that  her  grade  is  only  a  station  on  the  high- 
way to  learning  and  life.  In  teaching  we  cannot  by 
any  shift  dispense  with  the  ideas  children  have  gained 
at  home,  at  play,  in  the  school,  and  outside  of  it. 
This,  in  connection  with  what  the  child  has  learned 
in  the  previous  grades,  constitutes  a  stock  of  ideas, 
a  capital,  upon  which  the  teacher  should  freely  draw 
in  illustrating  daily  lessons. 

Sixth.  The  general  plan  of  all  studies  is  based 
upon  this  notion  of  acquiring  knowledge  by  the 
assistance  of  accumulated  funds.  In  arithmetic  it 
would  be  folly  to  begin  with  long  division  before 
the  multiplication  table  is  learned.  In  geometry, 
later  propositions  depend  upon  earlier  principles  and 
demonstrations.  In  Latin,  vocabularies  and  inflec- 
tions and  syntactical  relations  must  be  mastered 
before  readiness  in  the  use  of  language  is  reached. 
And  so  it  is  to  a  large  degree  in  the  general  plan  of 
all  studies.  In  spite  of  this,  no  principle  is  more 
commonly  violated  in  daily  recitations  than  that  of 
apperception.  Its  value  is  self-evident  as  a  principle 
for  the  arrangement  of  topics  in  any  branch  of  study, 
but  it  is  overlooked  in  daily  lessons.  Instead  of  this, 
new  knowledge  is  acquired  by  a  thoughtless  memory 
drill. 

Seventh.  In  this  welding  process  we  desire  to 
determine  how  far  an  actual  concentration  may  take 


APPERCEPTION  287 

place  between  school  studies  and  the  home  and  out- 
side life  of  children.  The  stock  of  ideas  and  feelings 
which  a  child  from  its  infancy  has  gathered  from  its 
peculiar  history  and  home  surroundings  is  the  primi- 
tive basis  of  its  personality.  Its  thoughts,  feelings, 
and  individuality  are  deeply  interwoven  with  home 
experience.  No  other  set  of  ideas,  later  acquired, 
lies  so  close  to  its  heart  or  is  so  abiding  in  its 
memory.  The  memory  of  work  and  play  at  home ; 
of  the  house,  yard,  trees,  and  garden,  of  parents, 
brothers,  and  sisters ;  and,  in  addition  to  this,  the 
experiences  connected  with  neighbors  and  friends, 
the  town  and  surrounding  country,  the  church  and 
its  influence,  the  holidays,  games,  and  celebrations,  — 
all  these  things  lie  deeper  in  the  minds  of  children 
than  the  facts  learned  about  grammar,  geography, 
or  history  in  school.  Any  plan  of  education  that 
ignores  these  home-bred  ideas,  these  events,  memo- 
ries, and  sympathies  of  home  and  neighborhood  life, 
will  make  a  vital  mistake.  A  concentration  that 
keeps  in  mind  only  the  school  studies  and  disregards 
the  rich  fund  of  ideas  that  every  child  brings  from 
his  home,  must  be  a  failure,  because  it  only  includes 
the  weaker  half  of  his  experience.  Home  knowledge 
itself  may  not  always  be  made  a  concentrating  centre, 
but  all  its  best  materials  must  be  drawn  into  the 
concentrating  centre  of  the  school.  Yet  children 
bring  many  faulty,  mistaken,  and  even  vicious  ideas 
from  their   homes.      It  is  well  to  know   the  actual 


288  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

situation.  It  is  the  work  of  the  school,  at  every  step, 
while  receiving,  to  correct,  enlarge,  or  arrange  the 
faulty  or  disordered  knowledge  brought  into  the 
school  by  children.  We  unconsciously  use  these 
materials,  and  depend  upon  them  for  explaining  new 
lessons,  more  constantly  than  we  are  aware  of.  In 
fact,  if  we  were  wise  teachers,  we  would  consciously 
make  a  more  frequent  use  of  them  and,  in  order  to 
render  them  more  valuable,  take  special  pains  to 
review,  correct,  and  arrange  them.  We  would  teach 
children  to  observe  more  closely  and  to  remember 
better  the  things  they  daily  see. 

We  shall  appreciate  better  the  value  of  home 
knowledge  if  we  take  note  of  the  direct  and  constant 
dependence  of  the  most  important  studies  upon  it. 
We  usually  think  of  history  as  something  far  away 
in  New  England,  or  France,  or  Egypt.  History  is 
mainly  the  study  of  the  actions,  customs,  homes,  and 
institutions  of  men  in  different  countries.  But  what 
an  abundance  of  similar  facts  and  observations  a 
child  has  gathered  about  home  before  he  begins  the 
study  of  history!  From  his  infancy  he  has  seen 
people  of  all  sorts  and  conditions,  rich  and  poor, 
ignorant  and  learned,  honorable  and  mean.  He  has 
seen  all  sorts  of  human  actions,  learned  to  know 
their  meaning  and  to  pass  judgment  upon  them. 
He  has  seen  houses,  churches,  public  buildings,  trade 
and  commerce,  and  a  hundred  human  institutions. 
The  child   has   been   studying   human   actions  and 


APPERCEPTION  289 

institutions  in  the  concrete  for  a  dozen  years  before 
he  begins  to  read  and  recite  history  from  books. 
Without  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  out  of  school, 
society,  government,  and  institutions  would  be  worse 
than  Greek.  Geography,  as  taught  in  the  books, 
would  be  totally  foreign  and  strange  but  for  the 
abundance  of  ideas  the  child  has  already  picked  up 
about  hills,  streams,  roads,  travel,  storms,  trees, 
animals,  and  people. 

Natural  science  lessons  must  be  based  on  a  more 
careful  study  of  things  already  seen  about  home 
—  rocks  and  streams,  flowers  and  plants,  animals 
wild  and  tame.  These,  with  the  forests,  fields, 
brooks,  seasons,  tools,  and  inventions,  are  the  neces- 
sary object  lessons  in  natural  science  which  can  serve 
daily  to  illustrate  other  lessons.  How  near,  then,  do 
the  natural  science  topics,  geography  and  history, 
stand  to  the  daily  home  life  of  a  child !  How  inti- 
mate should  be  the  relations  which  the  school  should 
establish  between  the  parts  of  a  child's  experience  ! 
This  is  concentration  in  the  broadest  sense.  A 
proper  appreciation  of  this  principle  will  save  us 
from  a  number  of  common  errors.  Besides  con- 
stantly associating  home  and  school  knowledge,  we 
shall  try  to  know  the  home  and  parents  better,  and 
the  disposition  and  surroundings  of  each  child.  We 
shall  be  ready  at  any  time  to  render  home  knowledge 
more  clear  and  accurate,  to  correct  faulty  observation 
and  opinion.     While  the  children  will  be  encouraged 


290         THE  EI>EMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

to  illustrate  lessons  from  their  own  experience,  we 
shall  fall  into  the  excellent  habit  of  explaining  new 
and  difficult  points  by  a  direct  appeal  to  what  the 
pupils  have  seen  and  understood.  In  short,  there 
will  be  a  disposition  to  draw  into  the  concentrating 
work  of  the  school  all  the  deeper  but  outside  life- 
experiences  which  form  so  important  an  element  in 
the  character  of  every  person,  which,  however, 
teachers  so  often  overlook.  No  other  institution  has 
such  an  opportunity  or  power  to  concentrate  knowl- 
edge and  experience  as  the  school. 

Eighth.  Another  valuable  educative  result  of  ap- 
perception, cultivated  in  this  manner,  is  a  conscious- 
ness of  power  which  springs  from  the  ability  to  make 
a  good  use  of  our  knowledge.  The  oftener  children 
become  aware  that  they  have  made  a  good  use  of 
acquired  knowledge,  the  more  they  are  encouraged. 
They  see  the  treasure  growing  in  their  hands,  and 
feel  conscious  of  their  ability  to  use  it.  There  is  a 
mental  exhilaration  like  that  coming  from  abundant 
physical  strength  and  health. 

Ninth.  The  apperceptive  process,  by  bringing  to- 
gether kindred  ideas,  constantly  works  toward  the 
development  of  our  concepts  or  general  notions. 
The  crude  classifications  made  by  children  in  earlier 
years  are  steadily  enlarged,  revised,  and  clarified  by 
the  corrective  influence  of  kindred  incoming  ideas. 
This  is  the  natural  process  of  converting  the  imper- 
fect psychical  notions  into  well-defined,  logical  con- 


APPERCEPTION  29 1 

cepts.  In  a  still  broader  sense  certain  strong  centres 
of  thought  and  feeling  are  built  up  which  become 
dominant,  and  lead  to  well-established  habits  of  judg- 
ing and  acting.  The  student  of  biology  begins  to 
interpret  all  phenomena  by  biological  analogies,  the 
clergyman  projects  scriptural  language  and  imagery 
into  every  experience,  the  boy  may  think  of  nothing 
but  hunting  and  adventure,  and,  if  this  single  apper- 
ception mass  of  thought  and  feeling  becomes  too 
strong,  it  will  assert  complete  control,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  education. 

These  centres  of  thought  and  feeling,  apperception 
masses,  as  they  are  called,  need  to  be  built  up  firm 
and  well  compacted  in  every  important  branch  of 
study  and  experience,  if  character  is  to  be  well- 
balanced  and  liberal.  Each  important  study  in  the 
school  course  is  designed  to  build  up  and  establish  a 
few  of  these  powerful  apperceptive  centres,  while  the 
school  course  as  a  whole  is  designed  to  organize  and 
combine  all  the  centres  of  life  in  subordination  to 
ethical  ideals.  This,  however,  is  only  another  mode 
of  saying  that  the  ethical  centres  must  be  the  most 
powerful  of  all.  But  ethical  ideals  are  capable  of 
becoming  just  such  strongholds  of  character  if  edu- 
cation will  do  its  proper  work. 

Tenth.  It  is  the  peculiar  task  of  the  teacher  to 
guide  the  child  in  the  process  of  acquisition,  to  super- 
vise this  interaction  of  old  and  new.  To  do  this 
successfully  he  must  know  how  to  use  skilfully  the 


292    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

apperceptive  masses  previously  formed  by  the  chil- 
dren. In  asking  questions  he  must  know  how  to 
find  the  word  whicjbt.  will  touch  off  these  latent 
thought  energies.  This  requires  much  delicacy  and 
sympathetic  skill  on  the  teacher's  part.  An  apt 
question  may  be  the  key  which  unlocks  the  child's 
treasure-house.  An  appeal  to  their  own  feeling  or 
experience  may  act  like  a  flood  of  sunshine.  The 
teacher  should  be  in  search  of  the  key  words  or 
questions  which  touch  vitally  the  apperception  cen- 
tres of  the  child's  experience.  This  will  save  a  great 
deal  of  time  and  worry.  Sometimes  the  teacher  asks 
a  question  or  sets  a  problem  which  wholly  misses  the 
child's  apperception  mass,  as  when  the  teacher  asked 
the  children  to  write  about  the  robin,  and  what  they 
saw  him  doing  on  the  way  to  school.  One  little  fel- 
low wrote,  "  I  ain't  saw  no  robin,  and  he  wasn't  doin' 
nothin'." 

Lange's  "  Apperception,"  edited  by  De  Garmo,  be- 
ginning at  page  99,  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  Let  us  look  back  again  at  the  results  of  our 
investigation.  We  observe  first  what  essential  ser- 
vices apperception  performs  for  the  human  mind  in 
the  acquisition  of  new  ideas,  and  for  what  an  extraor- 
dinary easement  and  unburdening  the  acquiring 
soul  is  indebted  to  it.  Should  apperception  once 
fail,  or  were  it  not  implied  in  the  very  nature  of  our 
minds,  we  should,  in  the  reception  of  sense-impres- 
sions, daily  expend  as  much  power  as  the  child  in  its 


APPERCEPTION  293 

earliest  years,  since  the  perpetually  changing  objects 
of  the  external  world  would  nearly  always  appear 
strange  and  new.  We  should  gain  the  mastery  of 
external  things  more  slowly  and  painfully,  and  arrive 
much  later  at  a  certain  conclusion  of  our  external 
experience  than  we  do  now,  and  thereby  remain  per- 
ceptibly behind  in  our  mental  development.  Like 
children  with  their  ABC,  we  should  be  forced  to 
take  careful  note  of  each  word,  and  not,  as  now, 
allow  ourselves  actually  to  perceive  only  a  few  words 
in  each  sentence.  In  a  word,  without  apperception 
our  minds,  with  strikingly  greater  and  more  exhaust- 
ive labor,  would  attain  relatively  smaller  results. 
Indeed,  we  are  seldom  conscious  of  the  extent  to 
which  our  perception  is  supported  by  apperception ; 
of  how  it  releases  the  senses  from  a  large  part  of 
their  labor,  so  that  in  reality  we  listen  usually  with 
half  an  ear  or  with  a  divided  attention  ;  nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  do  we  ordinarily  reflect  that  apperception 
lends  the  sense  organs  a  greater  degree  of  energy,  so 
that  they  perceive  with  greater  sharpness  and  penetra- 
tion than  were  otherwise  possible.  We  do  not  consider 
that  apperception  spares  us  the  trouble  of  examining 
ever  anew  and  in  small  detail  all  the  objects  and 
phenomena  that  present  themselves  to  us,  so  as  to  get 
their  meaning,  or  that  it  thus  prevents  our  mental 
power  from  scattering  and  from  being  worn  out  with 
wearisome,  fruitless  detail  labors.  The  secret  of  its 
extraordinary  success  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  refers  the 


294    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

new  to  the  old,  the  strange  to  the  familiar,  the  un- 
known to  the  known,  that  which  is  not  comprehended 
to  what  is  already  understood,  and  thus  constitutes  a 
part  of  our  mental  furniture ;  that  it  transforms  the 
difficult  and  unaccustomed  into  the  accustomed,  and 
causes  us  to  grasp  everything  new  by  means  of  old- 
time,  well-known  ideas.  Since,  then,  it  accomplishes 
great  and  unusual  results  by  small  means,  in  so  far 
as  it  reserves  for  the  soul  the  greatest  amount  of 
power  for  other  purposes,  it  agrees  with  the  gen- 
eral principle  of  the  least  expenditure  of  force, 
or  with  that  of  the  best  adaptability  of  means  to 
ends. 

**  As  in  the  reception  of  new  impressions,  so  also 
in  working  over  and  developing  the  previously  ac- 
quired content  of  the  mind,  the  helpful  work  of 
apperception  shows  itself.  By  connecting  isolated 
things  with  mental  groups  already  formed,  and  by 
assigning  to  the  new  its  proper  place  among  them, 
apperception  not  only  increases  the  clearness  and 
definiteness  of  ideas,  but  knits  them  more  firmly  to 
our  consciousness.  Apperceiving  ideas  are  the  best 
aids  to  memory.  Again,  so  often  as  it  subordinates 
new  impressions  to  older  ones,  it  labors  at  the  associ- 
ation and  articulation  of  the  manifold  materials  of 
perception  and  thought.  By  condensing  the  content 
of  observation  and  thinking  into  concepts  and  rules, 
or  general  experiences  and  principles,  or  ideals  and 
general   notions,    apperception   produces   connection 


APPERCEPTION  295 

and  order  in  our  knowledge  and  volition.  With  its 
assistance  there  springs  up  those  universal  thought 
complexes  which,  distributed  to  the  various  fields  to 
which  they  belong,  appear  as  logical,  linguistic,  aes- 
thetic, moral,  and  religious  norms  or  principles.  If 
these  acquire  a  higher  degree  of  value  for  our  feel- 
ings, if  we  find  ourselves  heartily  attached  to  them,  so 
that  we  prefer  them  to  all  those  things  which  are  con- 
tradictory, if  we  bind  them  to  our  own  self,  they  will 
thus  become  powerful  mental  groups,  which  spring  up 
independent  of  the  psychical  mechanism  as  often  as 
kindred  ideas  appear  in  the  mind.  In  the  presence 
of  these  they  now  make  manifest  their  apperceiving 
power.  We  measure  and  estimate  them  now  accord- 
ing to  universal  laws.  They  are,  so  to  speak,  the 
eyes  and  hand  of  the  will,  with  which,  regulating  and 
supplementing,  rejecting  and  correcting,  it  lays  a 
grasp  upon  the  content  as  well  as  upon  the  succes- 
sion of  ideas.  They  hinder  the  purely  mechanical 
flow  of  thought  and  desire,  and  our  involuntary  ab- 
sorption in  external  impressions  and  in  the  varied 
play  of  fancy.  We  learn  how  to  control  religious 
impulses  by  laws,  to  rule  thoughts  by  thoughts.  In 
the  place  of  the  mechanical,  appears  the  regulated 
course  of  thinking ;  in  the  place  of  the  psychical  rule 
of  caprice,  the  monarchical  control  of  higher  laws 
and  principles,  and  the  spontaneity  of  the  ego  as  the 
kernel  of  the  personality.  By  the  aid  of  appercep- 
tion, therefore,  we  are  lifted  gradually  from  psychical 


296         THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

bondage  to  mental  and  moral  freedom.  And  now 
when  ideal  norms  are  apperceivingly  active  in  the 
field  of  knowledge  and  thought,  of  feeling  and  will, 
when  they  give  laws  to  the  psychical  mechanism, 
true  culture  is  attained." 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    WILL 

We  have  now  completed  the  discussion  of  the  con- 
cept-bearing or  inductive  process  in  learning  and 
apperception,  and  find  that  they  both  tend  to  the  uni- 
fying of  knowledge  and  to  the  awakening  of  strong 
and  legitimate  interest. 

It  now  remains  to  be  seen  how  the  will  is  related 
to  all  this  mental  machinery,  how  the  will  grows  up 
in  the  midst  of  these  activities,  part  and  parcel  of 
them,  and  gradually  emerges  into  dominancy.  For 
it  would  be  a  great  pity  if  all  this  splendid  machinery 
of  intellect  and  feeling  could  not  be  unified  under  one 
executive. 

The  will  is  the  power  of  the  mind  which  deliberates, 
chooses,  decides,  controls  action. 

According  to  psychology  there  are  three  distinct 
activities  of  the  mind,  —  knowing,  feeling,  and  wilUng. 
These  three  powers  are  related  to  one  another  as  co- 
ordinates, and  yet  the  will  should  become  the  mon- 
arch of  the  mind.  It  is  expected  that  all  the  other 
activities  of  the  mind  will  be  brought  into  subjection 
to  the  will.  FQr.-Strong..character  resides  in  the  will. 
Strength   of   character   depends   upon    the   mastery 

297 


298  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

which  the  will  has  acquired  over  the  life;  and  the 
formation  of  character,  as  shown  in  a  strong  moral 
will,  is  the  highest  aim  of  education. 

The  great  problem  for  us  to  solve  is,  first.  How  far 
can  the  deliberate  purpose  and  plan  of  education  con- 
tribute to  the  evolution  of  a  right  will  ? 

There  is  an  apparent  contradiction  in  saying  that 
the  will  is  the  monarch  of  the  mind,  the  power  which 
must  control  and  subject  all  the  other  powers;  and 
yet  that  it  can  be  trained,  educated,  moulded,  and 
chiefly,  too,  by  a  proper  cultivation  of  the  other 
powers,  feeling  and  knowing.  Knowledge  and  feel- 
ing, while  they  are  subject  to  the  will,  still  constitute 
its  strength,  just  as  the  soldiers  and  officers  of  an 
army  are  subject  to  a  commander  and  yet  make  him 
powerful. 

Our  modern  psychology  assumes  that  the  will,  like 
bodily  and  other  mental  powers,  is  subject  to  a  process 
of  evolution,  that  is,  the  will  develops  gradually  from 
the  lower  and  obscure  impulses  and  instincts  up 
through  the  higher  phases  of  interest  and  desire,  and 
eventually  through  submission  to  moral  obligation  and 
conscience,  to  free  will  in  the  moral  sense.  Putting 
it  very  briefly,  the  will,  in  its  earlier  stages,  at  least,  is 
plastic  and  educable. 

Dexter  and  Garlick,  in  their  "Psychology  in  the 
Schoolroom,"  p.  283,  say :  — 

"  The  growth  and  development  of  the  will  can  be 
measured  by  the  type  of  movement  involved.     Move- 


THE  WILL  299 

merits  are  either  voluntary  or  involuntary ;  that  is, 
they  either  involve  an  act  of  conscious  willing,  or  they 
do  not. 

"  The  involuntary  are  the  first  to  appear,  and  in- 
clude those  impulsive,  reflex,  and  instinctive  move- 
ments which  are  the  characteristics  of  infancy  and 
early  childhood.  The  tendency  to  these  movements 
is  inherited,  but  their  powers  and  their  relations  to 
the  bodily  wants  are  learnt  only  by  experience.  We 
recognize  the  first  signs  of  the  will  in  these  early  mus- 
cular movements,  and  at  first  they  are  the  only  indi- 
cation we  have  of  its  existence. 

"  Voluntary  movements  embrace  the  higher  forms, 
such  as  sensory,  imitative,  and  deliberative  move- 
ments. 

"  Our  first  movements  are  random  and  reflex  acts. 
The  instinctive  movements  are  a  distinct  advance  on 
these,  for  they  are  accompanied  by  feeling  and  a 
vague  form  of  desire.  The  value  of  instinctive 
movements  in  the  growth  of  the  will  lies  in  the 
check  they  impose  on  reflex  movements.  They  also 
represent  that  "  untaught  ability "  which  leads  the 
young  animal  to  perform  those  actions  which  are  essen- 
tial to  its  existence.  Instinctive  movements  are  the  will 
of  the  race  exemplified  in  the  will  of  the  individual. 

"The  growth  of  control  may  be  observed  in  a 
child.  At  first  he  is  a  mere  bundle  of  appetites. 
Self  and  immediate  gratification  is  his  policy.  Any 
check  produces   an  outburst  of  feeling.     Meantime 


300    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

his  education  is  proceeding,  and  he  learns  much  from 
experience.  He  begins  to  learn  that  there  are  prin- 
ciples of  conduct  which  often  conflict  with  his  im- 
pulses, but  which  have  nevertheless  to  be  considered. 
In  the  first  struggles  the  victory  invariably  rests  with 
impulse.  There  is  reflection,  but  in  too  weak  a  state 
for  the  mastery  of  impulse.  But  the  social  feelings 
are  developing,  and  soon  there  comes  a  time  when 
the  higher  feeUng  prevails.  He  ceases  to  beat  his 
drum  because  his  mother  has  a  headache.  It  is  his 
first  victory,  but  it  is  by  no  means  his  hardest  or 
greatest.  Many  severe  struggles  are  before  him. 
Defeat  is  probably  frequent,  but  no  longer  general. 
The  impulse  to  play  is  strong  and  exacting,  but  it  is 
put  aside  at  times  for  work.  The  sweets  and  toys 
are  now  sometimes  shared  with  others.  Impulse  is 
yielding  slowly  to  principle. 

"  This  marks  the  general  limit  for  young  children, 
but  further  developments  may  be  observed  in  the 
older  ones.  The  boy  will  still  consume  unlimited 
cake,  neglect  his  lessons,  or  give  way  to  fits  of  tem- 
per. But  other  considerations  are  gradually  forcing 
themselves  upon  him.  He  sees  that  gluttony  impairs 
his  health,  laziness  his  reputation,  and  temper  his 
comfort.  He  learns  that  health,  reputation,  comfort, 
etc.,  are  desirable.  His  health  is  important,  because 
he  wants  to  shine  in  the  school  games ;  his  lessons 
receive  attention,  because  he  wishes  to  please  his 
teacher,  parents,  or  raise  his  class  position.'* 


THE  WILL  301 

The  will  emerges  gradually  from  its  early  crude 
condition  of  blind  impulse  or  unconscious  instinct, 
first,  by  joining  forces  with  intellect  and  thus  exposing 
itself  to  the  light  of  reason,  and  second,  by  reenforc- 
ing  itself  with  the  energy  of  the  better  feelings.  It 
is  through  the  intellect  and  the  feelings,  therefore, 
that  the  educator  can  get  some  purchase  upon  the 
will,  and  thus  help  to  determine  the  final  form  which 
volition  takes.  We  need,  therefore,  to  study  closely 
the  relation  of  will  to  intellect  and  feeling. 

The  older  psychologies  set  up  the  three  forms  of 
knowing,  feeling,  and  will  as  wholly  distinct,  but  the 
relation  and  even  kinship  between  them  seem  much 
closer  than  was  formerly  supposed. 

William  James,  in  his  "Talks  to  Teachers,"  p.  170, 
says :  — 

"  All  our  deeds  were  considered  by  the  early  psy- 
chologists to  be  due  to  a  peculiar  faculty  called  the 
will,  without  whose  fiat  action  could  not  occur. 
Thoughts  and  impressions,  being  intrinsically  inac- 
tive, were  supposed  to  produce  conduct  only  through 
the  intermediation  of  this  superior  agent.  Until  they 
twitched  its  coat-tails,  so  to  speak,  no  outward  be- 
havior could  occur.  This  doctrine  was  long  ago 
exploded  by  the  discovery  of  the  phenomena  of 
reflex  action,  in  which  sensible  impressions,  as  you 
know,  produce  movement  immediately  and  of  them- 
selves. The  doctrine  may  also  be  considered  ex- 
ploded as  far  as  ideas  go. 


302    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

"  The  fact  is  that  there  is  no  sort  of  consciousness 
whatever,  be  it  sensation,  feeling,  or  idea,  which  does 
not  directly  and  of  itself  tend  to  discharge  into  some 
motor  effect.  The  motor  effect  need  not  always  be 
an  outward  stroke  of  behavior.  It  may  be  only  an 
alteration  of  the  heart-beats  or  breathing,  or  a  modi- 
fication in  the  distribution  of  blood,  such  as  blushing 
or  turning  pale ;  or  else  a  secretion  of  tears,  or  what 
not.  But,  in  any  case,  it  is  there  in  some  shape  when 
any  consciousness  is  there;  and  a  belief  as  funda- 
mental as  any  in  modern  psychology  is  the  belief  at 
last  attained,  that  conscious  processes  of  any  sort, 
conscious  processes  merely  as  such,  must  pass  over 
into  motion,  open  or  concealed." 

This  ideo-motor  character  of  knowledge  is  equalled 
on  the  negative  side  by  the  inhibitive  power  of  ideas, 
by  which  tendencies  to  act  are  checked  or  prohibited. 
There  is  a  certain  propulsive  energy,  exhibited  by 
ideas  themselves,  abundantly  illustrated  by  psychol- 
ogists, by  which  they  produce  or  exhibit  action. 
Dexter  and  Garlick,  in  their  "Psychology  in  the 
Schoolroom,"  p.  293,  say  :  — 

"  The  great  field  of  the  ideo-motor  class  of  move- 
ments is  the  imitative.  The  imitative  impulse  leads 
to  the  incessant  repetition  of  these  movements  among 
children,  and  the  growth  of  will  is  thus  correspondingly 
rapid.  They  supply  very  largely  that  great  field  for 
exercise  and  example,  which  are  so  necessary  for  the 
correction,  acquisition,  and  perfection  of  movements. 


THE  WILL  303 

"  The  development  of  ideo-motor  movements  leads 
gradually  to  those  more  perfect  forms  of  voluntary 
movement  which  mark  the  higher  stages  of  voUtion. 
The  child's  mind  becomes  stocked  with  motor  images, 
and  with  the  constant  assistance  of  the  other  elements 
he  is  finally  enabled  to  reach  the  stage  of  pure  vol- 
untary action." 

But  the  dependence  of  the  will  upon  knowing  is 
especially  shown,  also,  in  the  illumination  of  the 
field  of  action  by  knowledge,  and  by  the  narrow 
limits  which  ignorance  sets  to  will  effort. 

Before  the  will  can  decide  to  do  any  given  act,  it 
must  see  its  way  clearly.  It  must  at  least  believe  in 
the  possibility.  In  trying  to  get  across  a  stream,  for 
example,  if  one  cannot  swim  and  there  is  no  bridge 
nor  boat,  nor  means  of  making  one,  the  will  cannot 
act.  It  is  helpless.  The  will  must  be  shown  the 
way  to  its  aims,  or  they  are  impossible.  The  more 
clear  and  distinct  our  knowledge,  the  better  we  can 
lay  our  plans  and  will  to  carry  them  out.  It  would 
be  impossible  for  one  of  us  to  will  to  run  a  steam 
engine  from  Chicago  to  New  York  to-day.  We  don't 
know  how,  and  we  should  not  be  permitted  to  try. 
In  every  field  of  action  we  must  have  knowledge, 
and  clear  knowledge,  before  the  will  can  act  to  good 
advantage.  It  is  only  knowledge,  or  at  least  faith  in 
the  possibility  of  accomplishing  an  undertaking,  that 
opens  the  way  to  will.  Much  successful  experience 
in  any  line  of  work  brings  increasing  confidence,  and 


304    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

the  will  is  greatly  strengthened,  because  one  knows 
that  certain  actions  are  possible.  The  simple  acqui- 
sition of  facts,  therefore,  the  increase  of  knowledge 
so  long  as  it  is  well  digested,  makes  it  possible  for 
the  will  to  act  with  greater  energy  in  various  direc- 
tions. The  more  clear  this  knowledge  is,  the  more 
thoroughly  it  is  cemented  together  in  its  parts  and 
subject  to  control,  the  greater  and  more  effective  can 
be  the  will  action.  All  the  knowledge  we  may 
acquire  can  be  used  by  the  will  in  planning  and  car- 
rying out  its  purposes.  Knowledge,  therefore,  de- 
rived from  all  sources,  is  a  means  used  by  the  will, 
and  increases  the  possibilities  of  its  action. 

But,  secondly,  there  are  found  still  more  immediate 
means  of  stimulating  and  strengthening  the  will, 
namely,  in  the  feelings.  The  feelings  are  more 
closely  related  to  will  than  knowledge,  at  least  in 
the  sense  of  cause  and  effect.  There  is  a  gradual 
transition  from  the  feelings  up  to  the  will,  as  follows : 
interest  in  an  object,  inclination,  desire,  and  purpose, 
or  will  to  secure  it.  We  might  say  that  will  is  only 
the  final  link  in  the  chain,  and  the  feelings  and 
desires  lead  up  to  and  produce  the  act  of  willing. 
Even  will  itself  has  been  called  a  feeling  by  some 
psychologists  and  classed  with  the  feelings.  But  the 
thing  in  which  we  are  now  most  concerned  is,  how  to 
reach  and  strengthen  the  will  through  the  feelings. 
Some  of  the  feelings  which  powerfully  influence  the 
will    are   desire   of   approbation,    ambition,    love   of 


THE  WILL  305 

knowledge,  appreciation  of  the  beautiful  and  the 
good ;  or,  on  the  other  side,  rivalry,  envy,  hate,  and 
ill-will.  Now,  it  is  clear  that  a  cultivation  of  the 
feelings  and  emotions  is  possible  which  may  strongly 
influence  the  purposes  and  decisions  of  the  will, 
either  in  the  right  or  wrong  direction.  It  is  just  at 
this  point  that  education  is  capable  of  a  vigorous 
influence  in  moulding  the  character  of  a  child.  The 
cultivation  of  the  six  interests  already  mentioned  is 
little  else  than  cultivation  of  the  great  classes  of  feel- 
ing, for  interest  always  contains  a  strong  element  of 
feeling.  It  is  certain  in  any  case  that  a  child's,  and 
eventually  a  man's,  will  is  to  be  guided  largely  by 
his  feelings.  Whether  any  care  is  taken  in  educa- 
tion or  not,  feeling,  good  or  bad,  is  destined  to  guide 
the  will.  Most  people,  as  we  know,  are  too  much 
influenced  by  their  feehngs.  This  is  apparent  in  the 
adage,  "Think  twice  before  you  speak."  Feelings 
of  malice  and  ill-will,  of  revenge  and  envy,  of  disUke 
and  jealousy,  get  the  control  in  many  lives,  because 
they  have  been  permitted  to  grow  and  nothing  better 
has  been  put  in  their  place.  The  teacher,  by  select- 
ing the  proper  materials  of  study,  is  able  to  cultivate 
and  strengthen  such  feelings  as  sympathy  and  kind- 
ness toward  others ;  appreciation  of  brave,  unselfish 
acts  in  others ;  the  feeling  of  generosity,  charity,  and 
a  forgiving  spirit;  a  love  for  honesty  and  upright- 
ness ;  a  desire  and  ambition  for  knowledge  in  m.any 
directions.      On   the   other  hand,  the   teacher   may 


306    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

gently  instil  a  dislike  for  cowardice,  meanness,  self- 
ishness, laziness,  and  envy,  and  bring  the  child  to 
master  and  control  these  evil  dispositions.  Not  only 
is  it  possible  to  cultivate  those  feelings  which  we 
may  summarize  as  the  love  of  the  virtues,  and  develop 
a  dislike  and  turning  away  from  vices,  but  this  work 
of  cultivating  the  feelings  may  be  carried  on  so  sys- 
tematically that  great  habits  of  feeling  are  formed, 
and  these  habits  become  the  very  strongholds  of 
character.  They  are  the  forces  steadily  acting  upon 
the  will  and  guiding  its  choice. 

The  discussion  of  the  relation  of  feeling  to  will  has 
centred,  in  recent  years,  around  the  doctrine  of 
interest.  In  our  foregoing  chapter  on  "  Interest "  we 
discussed  the  relation  of  interest  to  involuntary  at- 
tention, and  also  to  that  phase  of  voluntary  attention 
in  which  interest  aids  the  will  in  maintaining  atten- 
tion. This  phase  of  auxiliary  interest  shows  itself, 
as  we  saw,  in  apperception  and  in  the  association  of 
ideas,  greatly  facilitating  the  efforts  of  the  will  in 
attention. 

There  is  a  still  more  important  phase  of  interest 
in  its  direct,  or  what  we  may  call  its  causal,  relation 
to  will.  Interest,  desire,  and  will  give  us  the  three 
important  links  in  the  causal  series  that  results  in 
action.  Assuming  this  causal  connection  between 
interest  or  feeling  and  will,  many  psychologists  have 
spoken  of  interest  as  supplying  the  motive  which 
prompts  the  will  to  action.    Thus  Ostermann,  **  Inter- 


THE  WILL  307 

est  in  its  Relation  to  Pedagogy,"  p.  57,  "That  which 
is  of  no  interest,  an  indifferent  matter,  exercises  no 
determining  influence  whatever  upon  the  will,  either 
in  a  positive  or  in  a  negative  direction."  Again,  "If 
the  mind  were  merely  intellect,  and  never  from  the 
beginning  of  its  existence  had  felt  any  emotion  of 
pleasure  or  displeasure,  it  would  be  void  of  all  inter- 
est, and  would,  accordingly,  not  find  in  itself  any  im- 
pulse whatever  to  desire  or  will."  Ostermann  quotes 
a  number  of  leading  psychologists,  who  speak  of  the 
feelings  as  containing  the  motives  which  impel  the 
will.  For  example,  Wundt :  "  Motives  are  processes 
always  accompanied  by  feelings,  and  these  feelings 
turn  out  to  be  those  elements  of  the  motive  in  which 
the  rea^  cause  of  activity  is  contained.  We  would  not 
will  a  thing  if  we  were  not  stimulated  by  feelings." 

Dewey  says,  p.  18,  of  "Interest  as  related  to  Will": — 

"  We  are  now  in  a  position  to  deal  with  the  ques- 
tion of  the  relation  of  interest  to  desire  and  to  effort. 
Desire  and  effort  in  their  legitimate  meaning  are, 
both  of  them,  phases  of  mediated  interest.  They  are 
correlatives,  not  opposites." 

Again,  p.  22,  Dewey  says  :  — 

"  What,  it  may  be  asked,  is  the  connection  of  this 
with  the  question  of  interest  ?  Precisely  this  :  In  the 
analysis  of  desire  we  are  brought  back  exactly  to  the 
question  of  mediate  interest.  Normal  desire  is  simply 
a  case  of  properly  mediated  interest.  The  problem 
of  attaining  the  proper  balance  between  the  impulses 


308    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

on  one  side  and  an  ideal  or  end  on  the  other  is  just 
the  question  of  getting  enough  interest  in  the  end  to 
prevent  a  too  sudden  expenditure  of  the  waste  energy 
—  to  direct  this  excited  energy  so  that  it  shall  be 
tributary  to  realizing  the  end.  Here  the  interest  in 
the  end  is  taken  over  into  the  means.  Interest,  in 
other  words,  marks  the  fact  that  the  emotional  force 
aroused  is  functioning.  This  is  our  definition  of 
interest ;  it  is  impulse  functioning  with  reference  to 
an  idea  of  self-expression. 

"  Interest  in  the  end  indicates  that  desire  is  both 
calmed  and  steadied.  Over-greedy  desire,  like  over- 
anxious aversion,  defeats  itself.  The  youthful  hunter 
is  so  anxious  to  kill  his  game,  he  is  so  stimulated  by 
the  thought  of  reaching  his  end,  that  he  cannot  con- 
trol himself  sufficiently  to  take  steady  aim.  He 
shoots  wild.  The  successful  hunter  is  not  the  one 
who  has  lost  interest  in  his  end,  in  killing  the  game, 
but  the  one  who  is  able  to  translate  this  interest  com- 
pletely over  into  the  means  necessary  to  accomplish 
his  purpose.  It  is  no  longer  the  killing  of  the  game 
that  occupies  his  consciousness  by  itself,  but  the 
thought  of  the  steps  he  has  to  perform.  The  means, 
once  more,  have  been  identified  with  the  end;  the 
desire  has  become  mediate  interest.  The  ideal  dies 
as  bare  ideal,  to  live  again  in  instrumental  powers." 

Again,  p.  25  :  *'  On  the  psychological  side  we  find 
that  interest  in  an  end  or  object  simply  means  that 
the  ^elf  is  finding  its  own  movement  or  outlet  in  a 


THE  WILL  309 

certain  direction,  and  that  consequently  there  is  a 
motive  for  effort,  for  putting  forth  energy,  in  realizing 
the  desirable  end. 

"  On  the  educational  side  we  were  led  to  assume 
that  normal  interest  and  effort  are  identical  with  the 
process  of  self-expression." 

These  passages  from  Dr.  Dewey  assume  the  closest 
possible  relation  between  feeling,  desire,  and  will. 
They  are  parts  of  one  outgoing  movement  toward 
self-expression.  In  the  same  movement  also  an 
intellectual  element  is  present  which  perceives  ends 
and  ideals. 

Ostermann  also  finds  an  intellectual  element  in 
feeling.  In  reply  to  the  argument  that  man  should 
be  governed  in  his  desires  and  actions  by  intellect,  he 
says,  p.  67 :  **  Our  answer,  in  the  first  place,  will  be 
that  interest,  though  in  the  beginning  identical  with 
feeling,  changes  by  degrees  into  the  form  of  the 
judgment  of  value,  and  that  this  judgment  of  value, 
though  growing  out  of  feeling  and  having  motive 
power  only  for  that  reason,  yet  is  no  longer  original 
feeling,  but  already  an  intellectual  function  of  the 
mind,  which  in  this  judgment  sums  up  and  comprises 
all  the  single  impressions  of  value  upon  feeling.  In 
this  respect  interest  and  intellectual  activity  do  not 
absolutely  exclude  each  other." 

At  the  same  time  the  power  of  deliberation  and 
choice  rests  partly  upon  knowledge  and  feeling.  — 
p.    68 :     "  He   does   not   blindly   follow   the   motive 


3IO    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

(interest)  which  happens  to  predominate  in  his  con- 
sciousness at  the  moment,  but  —  looking  backward 
and  forward  —  allows  further  interests  to  make  them- 
selves felt,  and  deliberates  on  the  various  possibilities 
open  to  his  activity.  This  reflection  of  intellect  is, 
according  to  experience,  of  wide-reaching  importance 
in  our  desires  and  decisions;  but  the  assertion  is 
unalterable  that  what  ultimately  actuates'  will  are 
always  interests,  whether  they  be  real  feelings  or 
recollections  and  judgments  of  value  which  have 
grown  out  of  feeling." 

The  study  of  the  psychology  of  knowing,  feeling, 
and  will  in  more  recent  times  has  caused  us  to  think 
these  three  forms  of  mental  action  in  much  closer 
relation  and  dependence  upon  one  another  than 
formerly.  We  find,  on  the  one  side,  that  ideas  have 
a  marked  motor  tendency,  feeling  is  still  more  pro- 
pulsive, and  will  is  the  preeminent  propulsive  energy. 
Starting  from  the  other  side,  will  is  no  longer  pure 
will,  but  is  rationalized  so  that  it  can  see  ends  or 
ideals  clearly.  Feeling  also  is  always  attendant  upon 
ideas,  while  ideas  or  knowledge  are  essentially 
intellectual.  Psychologists  speak  of  will  in  the  broad 
sense  and  will  in  the  narrow  sense,  meaning  that  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  all  mental  life  exhibits  will.  On 
the  other  side  we  may  say  that  all  will  effort  involves 
intelligence  and  feeling. 

This  is  another  evidence  that  will  is  no  indepen- 
dent, isolated  faculty,  but  becomes  strong  and  efficient 


THE  WILL  311 

to  the  extent  that  it  is  supported  by  feeling  and 
knowledge.  These  three  phases  of  mental  life,  con- 
stantly present  in  all  thought  and  action,  constantly 
interacting  upon  one  another  and  supporting  one 
another,  grow  up  in  close  companionship  from  the 
beginning.  The  whole  structure  of  character  be- 
comes strong  and  efficient  just  to  the  extent  that 
these  three  factors  are  kept  in  closest  harmony  and 
at  the  same  time  check  and  balance  one  another. 

After  this  psychological  analysis  of  the  relation  of 
will  to  knowledge  and  feeling,  we  are  enabled  to  pass 
judgment  upon  the  old  doctrine  of  sheer  will  which 
has  long  held  such  an  important  place  both  in  the 
theory  and  in  the  practice  of  education.  We  will  dis- 
cuss it  first  from  the  standpoint  of  involuntary  atten- 
tion; second,  of  habit;  third,  of  voluntary  attention. 
Involuntary  attention,  as  already  shown,  rests  upon 
interest.  It  is  well  known  to  teachers  in  primary 
grades  that  children  have  but  little  power  of  volun- 
tary attention,  but  their  attention  is  easily  held  by 
things  in  which  they  are  interested.  It  is  now  felt 
to  be  a  mistake  to  make  strong  and  constant  appeal 
to  voluntary  attention  in  early  childhood.  It  is  only 
gradually  that  this  power  of  voluntary  effort  is  de- 
veloped, and  to  assume  its  existence  in  early  school 
years  is  a  blunder.  It  is  one  of  the  chief  elements  of 
tact  in  teachers  to  arouse  and  concentrate  the  efforts 
of  children  by  all  proper  and  legitimate  interests  so 
as  to  secure  involuntary  attention.     This  is  the  true 


312    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

method  of  developing  will  power.  The  growth  of  a 
strong  habit  of  involuntary  attention  is  the  first  and 
necessary  step  toward  that  concentration  of  thought 
and  effort  which  passes  over  later  into  voluntary 
effort.  Any  child  who  cannot  be  led  to  a  strong 
involuntary  attention  will  never  develop  will  power. 
Our  conclusion  is,  that  the  appeal  to  sheer  will  is,  for 
the  main  part,  out  of  place  in  early  education. 

In  the  later  years  of  school  life  all  mental  activity 
tends  to  become  fixed  in  habits.  In  fact,  the  tendency 
toward  habit-forming  begins  early  and  becomes  more 
and  more  marked  with  the  years.  In  the  first  effort 
to  lay  out  a  line  of  thought  or  action,  the  will  is 
under  heavy  strain,  but  as  the  habit,  by  repetition, 
becomes  more  fixed,  the  action  is  almost  automatic, 
and  positive  will  effort  is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  As 
the  mind  gradually  establishes  its  well-beaten  tracks 
along  all  lines  of  thought  and  action,  the  burden  of 
will  effort  is  largely  taken  away.  There  is  a  great 
easement  in  mental  effort.  Instead  of  the  strain  of 
sheer  will  the  machinery  of  habit  comes  into  play 
and  carries  the  burden  of  thought  or  action.  This  is 
a  second  very  important  limitation  upon  the  doctrine 
of  sheer  will. 

In  the  third  place  we  will  call  up  for  review  the 
idea  of  voluntary  attention.  In  our  discussion  of  this 
topic  in  the  chapter  on  "  Interest  "  we  found  that  vol- 
untary attention  has  a  much  more  limited  scope  than 
was  formerly  supposed.    It  consists,  according  to  Pro- 


f^    Of  THE  A^ 

THE  ^"^^^^^,^^^^^^0^'       313 

fessor  James,  in  instantaneous  pulses  of  effort,  while 
the  steady  force  which  maintains  attention  is  found  in 
interest.  Even  at  this  crucial  point,  at  the  very  focus 
of  voluntary  attention,  we  find  that  interest  based 
upon  apperception,  association  of  ideas,  and  the  ap- 
propriate material  of  thought  furnishes  a  mental 
machinery  which  shoulders  the  chief  burden  of 
effort. 

We  may  go  a  step  farther  than  this  and  say  with 
Dr.  Dewey  that  sheer  will  is  out  of  place  in  educa- 
tion, that  where  there  is  no  true  interest,  there  is  no 
true  motive  to  mental  effort.  There  is  no  aim  or 
ideal  set  up  which  calls  for  the  self-activity  of  the 
child  and  leads  to  self-realization.  Dewey,  pp.  24,  25, 
of  "Interest  as  related  to  Will,"  says  :  — 

**  On  the  other  hand,  effort,  in  the  sense  of  strain 
because  of  lack  in  interest,  is  evidence  of  the  abnor- 
mal use  of  effort.  The  necessity  of  effort  in  this 
sense  indicates  that  the  end  nominally  held  up  is  not 
recognized  as  a  form  of  self-expression  —  that  it  is 
external  to  the  self  and  hence  fails  in  interest.  The 
conscious  stirring  up  of  effort  marks  simply  the  un- 
real strain  necessarily  involved  in  any  attempt  to 
reach  an  end  which  is  not  part  and  parcel  of  the 
self's  own  process.  The  strain  is  always  artificial; 
it  requires  external  stimulation  of  some  sort  or 
other  to  keep  it  going,  and  always  leads  to  exhaus- 
tion. Not  only  does  effort  in  its  true  sense  play  no 
part  in  moral  training,  but  it  plays  a  distinctly  im- 


314    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

moral  part.  The  externality  of  the  end,  as  witnessed 
in  its  failure  to  arouse  the  active  impulses  and  to  per- 
sist toward  its  own  realization,  makes  it  impossible 
that  any  strain  to  attain  this  end  should  have  any 
other  than  a  relatively  immoral  motive.  Only  selfish 
fear,  the  dread  of  some  external  power,  or  else  purely 
mechanical  habit,  or  else  the  hope  of  some  external 
reward,  some  more  or  less  subtle  form  of  bribery, 
can  be  really  a  motive  in  any  such  instance." 

Summarizing,  we  may  say  that  involuntary  atten- 
tion, habit,  and  interest  supply  three  powerful  criti- 
cisms against  the  old  doctrine  of  sheer  will  in 
education.  The  mental  machinery  presupposed  as 
a  basis  of  interest  and  habit  is  an  indispensable 
requisite  for  the  exercise  of  free  will,  and  in  interest 
is  found  even  the  motive  and  first  step  in  the  process 
of  self-realization. 

A  study  of  the  will  in  its  relations  to  knowledge 
and  feeling  reveals  that  the  training  and  develop- 
ment of  the  will  depend  upon  exercise  and  upon 
instruction.  There  are  two  ways  of  exercising  will 
power.  First,  by  requiring  it  to  obey  authority 
promptly  and  to  control  the  body  and  the  mind  at 
the  direction  of  another.  The  discipline  of  a  school 
may  exert  a  strong  influence  upon  pupils  in  teaching 
them  concentration  and  will  power  under  the  direc- 
tion of  another.  Especially  is  this  true  in  lower 
grades.  Children  in  the  first  grade  have  but  little 
power  or  habit  of  concentrating  the  attention.     The 


THE  WILL  315 

will  of  the  teacher,  combined  with  her  tact,  must 
aid  in  developing  the  energies  of  the  will  in  these 
little  ones.  The  primary  value  of  quick  obedience 
in  school,  of  exact  discipline  in  marching,  rising, 
etc.,  is  twofold.  It  secures  the  necessary  order- 
liness, and  it  trains  the  will.  Even  in  higher  and 
normal  schools  such  a  perfect  discipline  has  a  great 
value  in  training  to  alertness  and  quickness  of  appre- 
hension associated  with  action. 

Secondly,  by  the  training  of  the  mind  to  freedom 
of  action,  to  self-activity,  to  independence.  As  soon 
as  children  begin  to  develop  the  power  of  thought 
and  action  their  self-activity  should  be  encouraged. 
Even  in  the  lowest  grades  the  beginnings  may  be 
made.  A  significant  aim  may  be  set  before  them 
which  they  are  to  reach  by  their  own  efforts.  For 
example,  let  a  class  in  the  first  reader  be  asked  to 
make  a  list  of  all  the  words  in  the  last  two  lessons 
containing  th^  or  oi^  or  some  other  combination. 
Activity  rather  than  repose  is  the  nature  of  chil- 
dren, and  even  in  the  kindergarten  this  activity  is 
directed  to  the  attainment  of  definite  ends.  With 
number  work  in  the  first  grade  the  objects  should 
be  handled  by  the  children,  the  letters  made,  rude 
drawings  sketched,  so  as  to  give  play  to  their  active 
powers  as  well  as  to  lead  them  on  to  confidence  in 
doing,  to  an  increase  of  self-activity.  As  children 
grow  older,  the  problems  set  before  them,  the  aims 
held  out,  should  be  more  difficult.     Of  course  they 


3l6         THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

should  be  of  true  interest  to  the  child,  so  that  it 
will  have  an  impulse  and  desire  of  its  own  to  reach 
them. 

There  are  few  things  so  valuable  as  setting  up 
definite  aims  before  children  and  touching  up  the 
incentives  to  reach  them  through  their  own  efforts. 
It  has  been  often  supposed  that  the  only  way  to  do 
this  is  to  use  reference  books,  to  study  up  the  les- 
sons or  some  topics  of  it  outside  of  the  regular 
order.  But  self-activity  is  by  no  means  limited  to 
such  outside  work.  A  child's  self-activity  may  be 
often  aroused  by  the  manner  of  studying  a  simple 
lesson  from  a  text-book.  When  a  reading  or  geog- 
raphy lesson  is  so  studied  that  the  pupil  thoroughly 
sifts  the  piece,  hunts  down  the  thought  till  he  is 
certain  of  its  meaning ;  when  all  the  previous  knowl- 
edge the  pupil  can  command  is  brought  to  bear 
upon  this,  to  throw  light  upon  it ;  when  the  diction- 
ary and  any  other  books  familiar  to  the  child  are 
studied  for  the  sake  of  reference  and  explanation, 
self-activity  is  developed.  Whenever  the  disposition 
can  be  stimulated  to  look  at  a  fact  or  statement 
from  more  than  one  standpoint,  to  criticise  it  even, 
to  see  how  true  it  is  or  if  there  are  exceptions,  self- 
activity  is  cultivated. 

The  pursuit  of  definite  aims  always  calls  out  the 
will,  and  their  satisfactory  attainment  strengthens 
one's  confidence  in  his  ability  to  succeed.  Every 
step  should  be  toward  a  clearly  seen  aim.     At  least 


THE  WILL  317 

this  is  our  ideal  in  working  with  children.  They 
should  not  be  led  on  blindly  from  one  point  to 
another,  but  try  to  reach  definite  results. 

There  is  a  gradual  transition  in  the  course  of  a 
child's  schooHng  from  training  of  the  will  under 
guidance  to  its  independent  exercise.  Throughout 
the  school  course  there  must  be  much  obedience  and 
will  effort  under  the  guidance  of  one  in  authority. 
But  there  should  be  a  gradual  increase  of  self- 
activity  and  self-determination.  When  the  pupil 
leaves  school  he  should  be  prepared  to  launch  out 
and  pursue  his  own  aims  with  success. 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  field  of  direct  moral 
education  we  find  the  same  psychical  laws  at  work 
in  will  development  which  we  have  already  treated. 
The  moral  will  bears  the  same  relation  to  moral  ideas, 
feelings,  interest,  etc.,  already  described  in  its  relation 
to  intellect  and  feeling.  Insight  into  moral  ideas  is 
an  indispensable  condition  to  moral  action.  Interest 
in  and  enthusiasm  for  moral  ideals  are  powerful 
stimuli  to  moral  conduct.  The  growth  of  moral  ideas 
is  conditioned  by  the  same  laws  of  induction,  apper- 
ception, and  interest,  while  involuntary  attention  and 
habit  stand  in  the  same  close  relation  to  the  moral 
will. 

Corresponding  to  their  central  importance,  moral 
ideas  may  be  said  to  possess  unusual  energy.  The 
interests  which  they  awaken  are  of  the  strongest  and 
most  permanent  kind.     Moral  ideals,    as   illustrated 


3l8    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

in  ordinary  life,  also  in  history  and  literature,  are 
capable  of  acquiring  complete  ascendency  over  all 
other  forms  of  psychical  experience.  It  is  the  busi- 
ness of  systematic  instruction  to  bring  these  moral 
ideas  to  the  attention  of  children,  so  that  they  can 
be  gradually  appropriated  and  applied  to  conduct. 
Looked  at  from  the  standpoint  of  self-realization, 
moral  ideals  furnish  the  child  with  the  strongest 
motives  for  effort. 

In  one  doctrine  all  thinkers  seem  to  agree,  namely, 
that  true  freedom  consists  in  obedience  to  the  moral 
law.  To  secure  this  there  must  be  first  a  clear  intel- 
lectual grasp  of  the  moral  ideas  and  the  moral  law ; 
second,  these  ethical  concepts  and  ideals  must  acquire 
impulsive  energy,  so  as  to  act  as  strong  motives. 
Sully  says,  "Thus  it  is  feeling  that  ultimately  sup- 
plies the  stimulus  or  force  to  volition,  and  intellect 
which  guides  and  illumines  it."  Practice  in  the 
exercise  of  the  moral  virtues  in  conduct  leads  on  to 
the  establishment  of  habit.  Habit  in  time  becomes 
almost  automatic,  so  that  the  will  is  not  under  con- 
stant strain  and  stress  to  maintain  ethical  standards. 
The  will  in  the  end,  while  it  controls  all  life  and  action, 
is  itself  under  the  guidance  of  those  great  trends  of 
habit  in  thought  and  action,  of  feehng  and  higher 
impulse,  which  it  is  the  highest  purpose  of  education 
to  cultivate  and  establish. 

It  is  the  freedom  of  the  will  to  choose  the  best  that 
we  are   after.     We   desire,  so  far  as  education  can 


THE  WILL  319 

accomplish  it,  to  limit  the  choice  of  the  will  to 
good  things.  We  desire  that  the  character  in  its 
full  evolution  toward  self-realization  shall  become  so 
strong,  so  noble  and  consistent  in  its  desire  that  it 
will  not  be  strongly  tempted  by  evil. 

Teachers  who  are  interested  in  this  phase  of  peda- 
gogy will  do  well  to  study  the  science  of  ethics.  Not 
that  it  will  much  aid  them  directly  in  school  work, 
but  it  will  at  least  give  them  a  more  comprehensive 
and  definite  notion  of  the  field  of  morals,  and  perhaps 
indicate  more  clearly  where  the  materials  of  moral 
education  are  to  be  sought  and  the  leading  ideas  to 
be  emphasized. 

Herbart  projected  a  system  of  ethics,  based  on 
psychology,  with  the  intention  of  classifying  the 
chief  moral  notions  and  of  showing  their  relation  to 
each  other.  He  also  developed  a  theory  of  the 
origin  of  moral  ideas  and  their  best  means  of 
cultivation,  and  then  based  his  system  of  pedagogy 
upon  it. 

The  chief  classes  of  ethical  ideas  of  Herbart  are 
briefly  explained  as  follows :  — 

I.    Good-will.     It   is  manifested  in  the  sympathy 

we  feel  for  the  sorrow  or  joy  of  another  person.    It 

is  illustrated  by  the  examples  of  Sidney  and  Howard 

already  cited. 

j^    2.    Legal  right.     It  serves  to  avoid  strife  by  some 

.ivK     agreement  or  established  rule ;  e.g.  the  government 

'of   the   United   States  fixes  the  law  for  preempting 


320    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

land  and  for  homestead  claims,  so  that  no  two 
persons  can  claim  successfully  the  same  piece  of 
land. 

3.  Justice,  as  expressed  by  reward  or  punishment. 
When  a  person  purposely  does  an  injury  to  another, 
all  men  unite  in  the  judgment,  *'  He  must  be  pun- 
ished." Likewise,  if  a  kind  act  is  done  to  any  one,  we 
insist  upon  a  return  of  gratitude  at  least. 

4.  Perfection  of  will.  This  implies  that  the  will  is 
strong  enough  to  resist  all  opposition.  David's  will 
to  go  out  and  meet  Goliath  was  perfect.  A  boy 
desires  to  get  his  lesson,  but  indolence  and  the  love 
of  play  are  too  strong  for  his  will.  There  is  nothing 
which  goes  so  far  to  make  up  the  character  of  the 
hero  as  strength  of  will  which  yields  to  no  difficulties. 

5.  Inner  freedom.  This  is  the  obedience  of  the 
will  to  its  highest  moral  incentive.  It  is  ability  to  set 
the  will  free  from  all  selfish  or  wrong  desires  and  to 
yield  implicit  obedience  to  moral  ideas.  This  of 
course  depends  upon  the  cultivation  of  the  other 
ideas  and  their  proper  subordination,  one  to  another. 

The  five  moral  ideas  just  given  indicate  the  lines 
along  which  the  strength  of  moral  character  is  shown. 
They  are  of  interest  to  the  teacher  as  a  systematic 
arrangement  of  morals,  and  suggestive  in  teaching. 
They  are  the  most  abstract  and  general  classes  of 
moral  ideas  and  are  of  no  interest  whatever  to 
children. 

In  morals,  the  only  thing  that  interests  children 


THE  WILL  321 

is  moral  action.  Whether  it  be  in  actual  life  or  in 
a  story  or  history,  the  child  is  aroused  by  a  deed  of 
kindness  or  courage.  But  all  talk  of  kindness  or 
goodness  in  general,  disconnected  from  particular 
persons  and  actions,  is  dry  and  uninteresting.  This 
gives  us  the  key  to  the  child's  mind  in  morals.  Not 
moralizing,  not  preaching,  not  lecturing,  not  reproof, 
can  ever  be  the  original  source  of  moral  ideas  with 
the  young,  but  the  actions  of  people  they  see,  and 
of  those  about  whom  they  read  or  hear.  Moral  judg- 
ments and  feelings  spring  up  originally  only  in  con- 
nection with  human  action  in  the  concrete.  If  we 
propose,  then,  to  adapt  moral  teaching  to  youthful 
minds,  we  must  make  use  of  concrete  materials, 
observations  of  people  taken  from  what  the  children 
have  seen,  stories,  and  biographies  of  historical  char- 
acters. A  story  of  a  man's  life  is  interesting  because 
it  brings  out  his  particular  motives  and  actions. 
This  is  the  field  in  which  instruction  has  its  conquests 
to  make  over  youthful  minds. 

We  will  gather  up  the  fruits  of  our  discussion  in 
the  preceding  chapters.  Having  fixed  the  chief 
aim  in  the  effort  to  influence  and  strengthen  moral 
character,  we  find  concentration  upon  moral  ideas 
and  practice  to  be  the  central  principle  in  which  all 
others  unite.  It  is  the  focussing  of  life  and  school 
experiences  in  the  unity  of  the  personality.  The 
worth  and  choice  of  studies  is  determined  by  this. 
Interest  unites  knowledge,  feeling,  and  will.     Apper- 


322  THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

ception  assimilates  new  ideas  by  bringing  each  into 
the  bond  of  its  kindred  and  friends,  spinning  threads 
of  connection  in  every  direction.  The  inductive 
process  collects,  classifies,  and  organizes  knowledge, 
everywhere  tending  toward  unity. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

HERBART   AND   HIS   DISCIPLES 

"  Then,  only,  can  a  person  be  said  to  draw  educa- 
tion under  his  control,  when  he  has  the  wisdom  to 
bring  forth  in  the  youthful  soul  a  great  circle  or  body 
of  ideas,  well  knit  together  in  its  inmost  parts  —  a 
body  of  ideas  which  is  able  to  outweigh  what  is  un- 
favorable in  environment  and  to  absorb  and  combine 
with  itself  the  favorable  elements  of  the  same."  — 
Herbart. 

Herbart  was  an  empirical  psychologist,  and  be- 
lieved that  the  mind  grows  with  what  it  feeds  upon ; 
that  is,  that  it  develops  its  powers  slowly  by  experi- 
ence. We  are  dependent  not  only  upon  our  habits, 
upon  the  established  trends  of  mental  action  pro- 
duced by  exercise  and  discipline,  but  also  upon  our 
acquired  ideas,  upon  the  thought  materials  stored  up 
and  organized  in  the  mind.  These  thought  materials 
seem  to  possess  a  kind  of  vitality,  an  energy,  an 
attractive  or  repulsive  power.  When  ideas  once  gain 
real  significance  in  the  mind,  they  become  active 
agents.  They  are  not  the  blocks  with  which  the 
mind  builds.     They  are  a  part  of  the  mind  itself. 

323 


324    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

They  are  the  conscious  reaction  of  the  mind  upon 
external  things.  The  conscious  ego  itself  is  a  prod- 
uct of  experience.  In  thus  referring  all  mental  action 
and  growth  to  experience,  in  the  narrow  Hmits  he 
draws  for  the  original  powers  of  the  mind,  Herbart 
stands  opposed  to  the  older  psychologists.  He  has 
been  called  the  father  of  empirical  psychology. 

Kant,  with  many  other  psychologists,  gives  greater 
prominence  to  the  original  powers  of  the  mind,  to  the 
innate  ideas,  by  means  of  which  it  receives  and  works 
over  the  crude  materials  furnished  by  the  senses. 
The  difference  between  Kant  and  Herbart  in  inter- 
preting the  process  of  apperception  is  an  index  of  a 
radical  difference  in  their  pedagogical  standpoints. 
With  Kant,  apperception  is  the  assimilation  of  the 
raw  materials  of  knowledge  through  the  fundamental 
categories  of  thought  (quality,  quantity,  relation,  mo- 
dality, etc.).  Kant's  categories  of  thought  are  original 
properties  of  the  mind ;  they  receive  the  crude  mate- 
rials of  sense-perception  and  give  them  form  and 
meaning.  With  Herbart,  the  ideas  gained  through 
experience  are  the  apperceiving  power  in  interpret- 
ing new  things.  Practically,  the  difference  between 
Kant  and  Herbart  is  important.  For  Kant  gives 
controlling  influence  to  innate  ideas  in  the  process 
of  acquisition.  Our  capacity  for  learning  depends 
not  so  much  upon  the  results  of  experience  and 
thought  stored  in  the  mind,  as  upon  original  powers, 
aided  and  supported  by  experience.     With  Herbart, 


HERBART  AND   HIS  DISCIPLES  325 

on  the  contrary,  great  stress  is  laid  upon  the  acquired 
fund  of  empirical  knowledge  as  a  means  of  increasing 
one's  stores,  of  more  rapidly  receiving  and  assimilat- 
ing new  ideas. 

Upon  this  is  also  based  psychologically  the  whole 
educational  plan  of  Herbart  and  of  his  disciples. 
As  fast  as  ideas  are  gained  they  are  used  as  means 
of  further  acquisition.  The  chief  care  is  to  supply 
the  mind  of  a  child  at  any  stage  of  his  growth  with 
materials  of  knowledge  suited  to  his  interests  and 
previous  stores,  and  to  see  that  the  new  is  properly 
assimilated  by  the  old  and  organized  with  it.  This 
accumulated  fund  of  ideas,  as  it  goes  on  collecting 
and  arranging  itself  in  the  mind,  is  not  only  a  favor- 
able condition  but  an  active  agency  in  our  future  ac- 
quisition and  progress.  Moreover,  it  is  the  business 
of  the  teacher  to  guide  and,  to  some  extent,  to  control 
the  inflow  of  new  ideas  and  experiences  into  the  mind 
of  a  child ;  to  superintend  the  process  of  acquiring 
and  of  building  up  those  bodies  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing which  eventually  are  to  influence  and  guide  the 
child's  voluntary  action. 

The  critics,  therefore,  accuse  Herbart  of  a  sort  of 
architectural  design  or  even  of  mechanical  process  in 
education.  If  our  ability  and  character  depend  to 
such  an  extent  upon  our  acquirements,  and  if  the 
teacher  is  able  to  control  the  supply  of  ideas  to  a 
child  and  to  guide  the  process  of  arrangement,  he 
can  build  up  controlling   centres  of   thought  which 


326    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

may  strongly  influence  the  action  of  the  will.  In 
other  words,  he  can  construct  a  character  by  build- 
ing the  right  materials  into  it.  This  seems  to  leave 
small  room  for  spontaneous  development  toward  self- 
activity  and  freedom. 

Herbart,  on  the  other  hand,  criticises  Kant's  idea 
of  the  transcendental  freedom  of  the  will,  on  the 
ground  that,  if  true,  it  makes  deliberate,  systematic 
education  impossible.  If  the  will  remains  absolutely 
free  in  spite  of  acquired  knowledge,  in  spite  of 
strongly  developed  tendencies  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing ;  if  the  child  or  youth,  at  any  moment,  even  in 
later  years,  is  able  to  retire  into  his  transcendental 
ego  and  arrive  at  decisions  without  regard  to  the 
effect  of  previously  acquired  ideas  and  habits,  any 
well-planned,  intentional  effort  at  education  is  empty 
and  without  effect. 

John  Friedrich  Herbart,  the  founder  of  this  move- 
ment in  education,  was  born  at  Oldenburg,  in  1776, 
and  died  at  Gottingen,  in  1841.  He  labored  seven 
years  at  Gottingen  at  the  beginning  of  his  career 
as  professor,  and  a  similar  period  at  its  close.  But 
the  longest  period  of  his  university  teaching  was  at 
Konigsberg,  where,  for  twenty-five  years,  he  occupied 
the  chair  of  philosophy  made  famous  before  him 
by  Kant.  His  writings  and  lectures  were  devoted 
chiefly  to  philosophy,  psychology,  and  pedagogy. 
Previous  to  beginning  his  career  as  professor  at  the 
university,  he  had  spent  three  years  as  private  tutor 


HERB  ART  AND   HIS  DISCIPLES  327 

to  three  boys  in  a  Swiss  family  of  patrician  rank. 
In  the  letters  and  reports  made  to  the  father  of  these 
boys,  we  have  strong  proof  of  the  practical  wisdom 
and  earnestness  with  which  he  met  his  duties  as  a 
teacher.  The  deep  pedagogical  interest  thus  devel- 
oped in  him  remained  throughout  his  life  a  quicken- 
ing influence.  One  of  his  earliest  courses  of  lectures 
at  the  university  resulted  in  the  publication,  in  1806, 
of  his  "  Allgemeine  Padagogik,"  his  leading  work  on 
education,  and  to-day  one  of  the  classics  of  German 
educational  literature.  His  vigorous  philosophical 
thinking  in  psychology  and  ethics  gave  him  the  firm 
basis  for  his  pedagogical  system.  At  Konigsberg,  so 
strong  was  his  interest  in  educational  problems  that 
he  established  a  training-school  for  boys,  where 
teachers,  chosen  by  him  and  under  his  direction, 
could  make  practical  application  of  his  decided  views 
on  education.  Though  small,  this  school  continued 
to  furnish  proof  of  the  correctness  of  his  educational 
ideas  till  he  left  Konigsberg,  in  1833.  This,  we  be- 
lieve, was  the  first  practice-school  of  its  kind  estab- 
lished in  connection  with  pedagogical  lectures  in  any 
German  university.  It  should  be  remembered  that, 
while  Herbart  was  a  philosopher  of  the  first  rank, 
even  among  the  eminent  thinkers  of  Germany  and  of 
the  world,  he  attested  his  profound  interest  in  edu- 
cation, not  only  by  systematic  lectures  and  extensive 
writings  on  education,  but  by  maintaining  for  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century  a  practice-school  at  the  uni- 


328    THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GENERAL  METHOD 

versity,  for  the  purpose  of  testing  and  illustrating  his 
educational  convictions.  Lectures  on  pedagogy  are 
more  or  less  commonplace,  and  often  nearly  worth- 
less. The  lecturer  on  pedagogy  who  shuns  the  life 
of  the  schoolroom  is  not  half  a  man  in  his  profession. 
The  example  thus  set  by  Herbart  of  bringing  the 
maturest  fruit  of  philosophical  study  into  the  school- 
room, and  testing  it  day  by  day  and  month  by  month 
upon  children,  has  been  followed  by  several  eminent 
disciples  of  Herbart  at  important  universities. 

Karl  Volkmar  Stoy  (1815-1885)  in  1843  began  his 
career  of  more  than  forty  years  as  professor  of  peda- 
gogy and  leader  of  a  teacher's  seminary  and  practice- 
school  at  Jena.  (A  part  of  this  time  was  spent  at 
Heidelberg.)  During  these  years  more  than  six 
hundred  university  students  received  a  spirited  intro- 
duction to  the  theory  and  practice  of  education  under 
Stoy's  guidance  and  inspiration.  His  seminary  for 
discussion  and  his  practice-school  became  famous 
throughout  Germany,  and  sent  out  many  men  who 
gained  eminence  in  educational  labors. 

Tuiskon  Ziller,  in  1862,  set  up  at  Leipsic,  in  con- 
nection with  his  lectures  on  teaching,  a  pedagogical 
seminary  and  practice-school,  which,  for  twenty 
years,  continued  to  develop  and  extend  the  applica- 
tion of  Herbart's  ideas.  Ziller  and  several  of  his 
disciples  have  attained  much  prominence  as  educa- 
tional writers  and  leaders. 

A  year  after  the  death  of  Stoy,  1886,  Dr.  Wilhelm 


HERBART  AND   HIS  DISCIPLES  329 

Rein  was  called  to  the  chair  of  pedagogy  at  Jena. 
He  had  studied  both  with  Stoy  and  Ziller,  and  had 
added  to  this  extensive  experience  as  a  teacher  and 
as  principal  of  a  normal  school.  His  lectures  on 
pedagogy,  both  theoretical  and  practical,  in  connec- 
tion with  his  seminary  for  discussion  and  his  practice- 
school  for  application  of  theory,  furnish  an  admirable 
introduction  to  the  most  progressive  educational 
ideas  of  Germany. 

The  Herbart  school  stands  for  certain  progressive 
ideas  which,  while  not  exactly  new,  have,  however, 
received  such  a  new  infusion  of  life-giving  blood  that 
the  vague  formulae  of  theorists  have  been  changed 
into  the  definite,  mandatory  requirements  and  sug- 
gestions of  real  teachers.  The  fact  that  a  peda- 
gogical truth  has  been  vaguely  or  even  clearly  stated 
a  dozen  times  by  prominent  writers,  is  no  reason  for 
supposing  that  it  has  ever  had  any  vital  influence 
upon  educators.  The  history  of  education  shows 
conclusively  that  important  educational  ideas  can  be 
written  about  and  talked  about  for  centuries  without 
finding  their  way  to  any  great  extent  into  the  school- 
rooms. What  we  now  need  in  education  is  definite 
and  well-grounded  theories  and  plans,  backed  up  by 
honest  and  practical  execution. 

The  Herbartians  have  patiently  submitted  them- 
selves to  thoroughgoing  tests  in  both  theory  and 
practice.  After  years  of  experiment  and  discussion, 
they  have  come  forward  with  certain  propositions  of 


330         THE  ELEMENTS   OF  GENERAL   METHOD 

reform  which  are  designed  to  infuse  new  life  and 
meaning  into  educational  labors. 

The  first  proposition  is  to  make  the  foundation 
of  education  immovable  by  resting  it  upon  growth 
in  moral  character,  as  the  purpose  which  serious 
teachers  must  put  first.  The  selection  of  studies  and 
the  organization  of  the  school  course  follow  this 
guiding  principle. 

The  second  is  permanent,  many-sided  interest. 
The  life-giving  power  which  springs  from  the  awak- 
ening of  the  best  interests  in  the  two  great  realms 
of  real  knowledge  should  be  felt  by  every  teacher. 
Though  not  entirely  new,  this  idea  is  better  than 
new,  because  its  deeper  meaning  is  clearly  brought 
out,  and  it  is  rationally  provided  for  by  the  selection 
of  interesting  materials  and  by  marking  out  an  ap- 
propriate method  of  treatment.  All  knowledge  must 
be  infused  with  feelings  of  interest,  if  it  is  to  reach 
the  heart  and  work  its  influence  upon  character  by 
giving  impulse  to  the  will. 

Thirdly,  the  idea  of  organized  unity,  or  concentra- 
tion, in  the  mental  stores  gathered  by  children,  in  all 
their  knowledge  and  experience,  is  a  thought  of  such 
vital  meaning  in  the  effort  to  estabhsh  unity  of  char- 
acter, that,  when  a  teacher  once  realizes  its  import, 
his  effort  is  toned  up  to  great  undertakings. 

Fourthly,  the  culture  epochs  give  a  suggestive 
bird's-eye  view  of  the  historical  meaning  of  educa- 
tion, and  of  the  rich  materials  of  history  and  litera- 


HERBART  AND   HIS   DISCIPLES  33 1 

ture  for  supplying  suitable  mental  food  to  children. 
They  help  to  realize  the  ideas  of  interest,  concentra- 
tion, and  apperception.     See  Appendix. 

Apperception  is  the  practical  key  to  the  most 
important  problems  of  education,  because  it  compels 
us  to  keep  a  sympathetic  eye  upon  the  child  in  his 
moods,  mental  states,  and  changing  phases  of 
growth  ;  to  build  hourly  upon  the  only  foundation 
he  has,  his  previous  acquirements  and  habits. 

Finally,  the  Herbartians  have  grappled  seriously 
with  that  great  and  comprehensive  problem,  the 
common  school  course.  The  obligation  rests  upon 
them  to  select  the  materials  and  to  lay  out  a  course 
of  study  which  embodies  all  their  leading  principles 
in  a  form  suited  to  children  and  to  our  school  condi- 
tions. 


Tarr   and   McMurry's   Geographies 

A  NEW  SERIES  OF  GEOGRAPHIES  IN  TWO.  THREE.  OR  FIVE 
VOLUMES 

By  RALPH   S.   TARR,   B.S.,  F.Q.5.A. 

Cornell  University 
AND 

FRANK   M.  McMURRY,   Ph.D. 

Teachers  College,  Columbia  University 


TWO  BOOK  5ERIES 

Introductory  Geography 60  cents 

Complete  Geography $1.00 

THE  THREE  BOOK  5ERIES 

First  Book  (4th  and  5th  Years)  Home  Geography  and  the  Earth 

as  a  Whole 60  cents 

Second  Book  (6th  Year)  North  America 75  cents 

Third  Book  (7th  year)  Europe  and  Other  Continents    ...       75  cents 

THE  FIVE  BOOK  SERIES 

First  Part  (4th  year)  Home  Geography 40  cents 

Second  Part  (5th  year)  The  Earth  as  a  Whole      ....  40  cents 

Third  Part  (6th  year)  North  America 75  cents 

Fourth  Part  (7th  year)  Europe,  South  America,  Etc.  ...  50  cents 
Fifth  Part  (8th  year)  Asia  and  Africa,  with  Review  of  North 

America 40  cents 

To  meet  the  requirements  of  some  courses  of  study,  the  section  from  the  Third 
Book,  treating  of  South  America,  is  bound  up  with  the  Second  Book,  thus  bringing 
North  America  and  South  America  together  in  one  volume. 

The  following  Supplementary  Volumes  have  also  been  prepared,  and  may  be 
had  separately  or  bound  together  with  the  Third  Book  of  the  Three  Book  Series, 
or  the  Fifth  Part  of  the  Five  Book  Series : 

SUPPLEMENTARY    VOLUMES 


New  York  State    ...  30  cents 

The  New  England  States  .  30  cents 

Utah 40  cents 

California 30  cents 


Elansas 30  cents 

Ohio 30  cents 

Virginia 30  cents 

Pennsylvania  ....  30  cents 


Texas        ...  35  cents 

When  ordering,  be  careful  to  specify  the  Book  or  Part  and  the  Series  desired, 
and  whether  with  or  without  the  State  Supplement. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

66    FIFTH    AVENUE,    NEW    YORK 
CHICAGO  BOSTON  SAN  FRANCISCO  ATLANTA 


Tarr  and  McMurry's  Geographies 


COMMENTS 

North  Plainfield,  N.J. 

"  I  think  it  the  best  Geography  that  I  have  seen." 

—  H.  J.  WiGHTMAN,  Superintendent. 
Boston,  Mass. 

"  I  have  been  teaching  the  subject  in  the  Boston  Normal  School 
for  over  twenty  years,  and  Book  I  is  the  book  I  have  been  looking 
for  for  the  last  ten  years.  It  comes  nearer  to  what  I  have  been 
working  for  than  anything  in  the  geography  line  that  I  have  yet 
seen.     I  congratulate  you  on  the  good  work." 

—  Miss  L.  T.  Moses,  Normal  School. 
Detroit,  Mich. 

"I  am  much  pleased  with  it  and  have  had  enthusiastic  praise 
for  it  from  all  the  teachers  to  whom  I  have  shown  it.  It  seems  to 
me  to  be  scientific,  artistic,  and  convenient  to  a  marked  degree. 
The  maps  are  a  perfect  joy  to  any  teacher  who  has  been  using 
the  complicated  affairs  given  in  most  books  of  the  kind." 

—  Agnes  McRae. 
De  Kalb,  111. 

"I  have  just  finished  examining  the  first  book  of  Tarr  and 
McMurry's  Geographies.  I  have  read  the  book  with  care  from 
cover  to  cover.  To  say  that  I  am  pleased  with  it  is  expressing 
it  mildly.  It  seems  to  me  just  what  a  geography  should  be.  It  is 
correctly  conceived  and  admirably  executed.  The  subject  is  ap- 
proached from  the  right  direction  and  is  developed  in  the  right 
proportions.  And  those  maps  —  how  could  they  be  any  better? 
Surely  authors  and  publishers  have  achieved  a  triumph  in  text- 
book making.  I  shall  watch  with  interest  for  the  appearance  of 
the  other  two  volumes."— Professor  Edward  C.  Page,  Northern 
Illinois  State  Normal  School. 

Asbury  Park,  N.J. 

"I  do  not  hesitate  at  all  to  say  that  I  think  the  Tarr  and 
McMurry's  Geography  the  best  in  the  market." 

—  F.  S.  SiiEP AKii,  Superintendent  of  Schools. 
Ithaca,  N.Y. 

"  I  am  immensely  pleased  with  Tarr  and  McMurry's  Geography." 
—Charles  De  Garmo,  Professor  of  Pedagogy ^  Cornell  University. 

»^  B  R  A  k"!> 
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